


Terms of Servitude

by XenArgon



Series: Series Yet To Be Named [1]
Category: Metroid Series, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Corruption, Crossover, I feel like this needs more tags, Implied Relationships, M/M, Mech Preg, Space Battles, it's a book at this point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 14:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 137,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10573452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XenArgon/pseuds/XenArgon
Summary: The war is over, and the decepticons are few in number, struggling to figure out how to live again. They take to the stars, only to find that the galaxy they thought empty and foreign is closer to home than they ever thought.





	1. Escape

This was not how it should have happened.

Broken lights flickered, showering the hallway in sparks. Smoke and dust clouded the air, filling the room with a glowing haze. Soundwave held a hand to his head as he sat upright, trying to process the scene before him. He looked down the hallway, gazing at the broken doors and collapsed ceiling, trying to remember what happened.

How did it end up this way?

Sure, it was an oddly strategic attack from several autobot ships, but what was anyone doing fighting over a barren rock in fringe space? It was strange. He remembered everything, but it had all happened so quickly that it felt like he had just woken up to a different world entirely. So much time had gone by since the decepticons' last defeat that it was hard to believe he was already on another warship. It only felt like yesterday he'd escaped the Shadowzone.

 

That had been stressful enough. Trapped on Earth alone while the other remaining decepticons were somewhere on Cybertron, he had spent almost all of his waking hours trying to figure out how to hail the Nemesis, or searching for energon just to survive. After all, he was lightyears away from his home. Summoning a portal was not as simple as sending coordinates to the ship's computer. Even with subspace relays, some frequencies failed to escape the parallel dimension he had found himself in. Days of hopeless isolation had become weeks, which soon became months. It was unpleasant, to say the least.

But his salvation came in an unusual form.

 

An urgent message drove him back to consciousness, from the quiet pondering he frequently lost himself in. He glanced at the data displayed on his visor before him, and jolted upright. A groundbridge portal had been formed somewhere, but judging by the distortion and weakness of the detected signal, it was too distant for him to fly to on his own.

Regardless of whose portal it was, though, he had to get to it.

He stood up, jumping into the air to transform, and flew out of the cave that had become his home. He had prepared for this scenario many times in his mind.

Soundwave flew toward the peak of the mountain he had inhabited, and transformed again to settle back onto the ground. He looked down at his feet, noticing the powdered snow he stood in. It was still strange to him that water fell from the sky in a form as fine as dust, but that was beside the point. He sent out a communication signal, not really filled with anything of substance, but flagged as a distress call.

He wasn't betting on the receiving party reading the message, given that it was most likely the autobots. Now, he waited. He looked down at the ground again, reaching down to scoop up some of the snow in his hands. Cybertron had no weather, and had no seasons. He had long thought that any planet that did was subject to chaos. But how was it that the chaos of a blue planet spawned life, and caused such delicate powder to fall from the sky? He let his hands drop to his sides, suddenly overcome with fatigue. With little to live on, he had little energy to spare, and flying even a short distance took a lot out of him.

But a familiar sound suddenly crackled to life, and he watched as a green portal formed before him. Two forms stepped through; Smokescreen and Wheeljack. Soundwave stood motionless for a moment, watching as the two autobots scanned their surroundings, looking directly at him but failing to see him. Such was the curse of the Shadowzone. He ran toward the portal, passing through and finding himself in a small clearing, in the center of which rested Ultra Magnus's ship.

With a purely mental sigh of relief, he stepped toward it. The curse of the Shadowzone had now become his blessing. After all, he knew the autobots now resided on Cybertron, and he now had a way to get there completely undetected.

 

The ship was more spacious than it looked from the outside, and Soundwave spent some time merely wandering around, inspecting its computer systems while Ratchet stood silently beside him, monitoring communication frequencies. It was strange, because while he could see and hear everything the autobot did, he was unable to sense any electromagnetic aura. Although, on second thought, that was probably for the best, since it further reduced any chance that they could detect him in turn.

It wasn't long before the radio came to life with Smokescreen's voice.

"I've scanned every pebble out here, but there's nothing out of the ordinary. Are you sure you calibrated this thing right?"

Ratchet's head tilted back as he let out an annoyed sigh, or groan, or something in between. The tone of his voice was appropriately condescending.

"If you haven't found anything, then come back. Whoever it was probably fled."

Wheeljack broke his silence, interjecting his comment soon enough after Ratchet's that the beginning of his own was cut off.

"- Just gonna leave a rogue 'con here?"

"Of course not. But we need better tracking methods than two scouts wandering around with scanners."

Smokescreen responded a moment later. "They couldn't have gone far by now though. This is the best chance we've got right here!"

"Need I remind you," Ratchet replied, "that the only decepticon known to still be on Earth is Soundwave?"

"Uhh..."

Wheeljack quickly interrupted the following silence. "Come on, you're not afraid of such a coward, are you?"

Soundwave himself looked toward Ratchet, eager to hear his response. Even though he felt no aura, he could see a trace of nervousness in the autobot's eyes.

"Soundwave  _ is  _ the second most capable decepticon to have ever lived."

The blue figure smiled slightly behind his visor, speaking in a quiet voice considering no one around him could hear.

"Then that's the second best compliment I've ever gotten."

Wheeljack's voice turned slightly annoyed as he responded.

"So what? We did capture him once."

"Just get back here."

"Whatever you say, doc."

Ratchet promptly buried his face in one hand, sighing again.

 

He had briefly known Ratchet before the war, but the medic had never left a good impression on him. Although, to be fair, it seemed Ratchet never left a good impression on anyone. But, even before the fateful council meeting that changed the course of history, it was clear there were ideological differences between Orion Pax and Ratchet, and Megatron, Soundwave, and Starscream. In truth, both sides wanted the same thing; a reformation of Cybertronian society to abolish the caste system. The difference was that the autobots were willing to compromise for it, and the decepticons weren't. But Ratchet was always somewhat strange in his beliefs. Even though he clearly hated Megatron and all that the decepticons had done throughout the past, he seemed to also resent the autobots for similar reasons; being that their methods were ineffective, and their motives were clouded by bias. By loyalty, he was an autobot, but by ideology, he was neutral.

 

When the other autobots arrived back at the ship, they seemed more annoyed than anything else. Had they been trying to track down the other decepticons?

Smokescreen seemed to hover beside Ratchet, but Wheeljack was content isolating himself toward the back of the ship among some energon cubes. Soundwave remained beside Ratchet as well, watching what he was doing, but after a few moments, the medic turned to Smokescreen, snapping at him with an irritated tone.

"Do you need something from me?"

The younger autobot backed away suddenly, stuttering slightly.

"I-uhhh.. no sir."

He sat down on a small bench, his posture straight and attentive, but fidgety enough to give away his nervousness. Ratchet shook his head, his voice turning quiet.

"I'm... sorry. It's just-"

"I get it, don't worry. We'll find something."

They  _ were _ trying to track down the others.

 

The ship lifted off the ground a few moments later, and the occupants all soon settled into the tranquility of the flight. Soundwave in particular found the sound of the engine calming, which was the very reason he had chosen the unusual quarters on the Nemesis that he had. On a warship there was no silence, so the best way to escape the sounds that would otherwise overwhelm him was with white noise, and the ship's engine was perfect for it. He had grown accustomed to the sound and its predictable variances, so while the sound of this engine was unfamiliar, it was similar enough to have the same effect. He moved to the bench across from Smokescreen and laid down, his starving mind craving sleep again.

One question plagued his thoughts, though, persistently enough to keep him awake: Why were the autobots back on earth? They owned Cybertron now. Granted, there were still energon deposits and probably some stray relics here, but it seemed a waste of their limited resources.

Ratchet finally moved from his post and sat down across from Smokescreen as well, phasing through Soundwave's legs in order to do so, but he lacked the energy to care. The medic looked somber, but determined at the same time, like he was planning something.

"Tell the council they're traitors."

Smokescreen looked up, seeming to take a moment to process his words.

"Wait, what? You're not giving up on them, are you?"

"What do they expect me to do? They charged me with the death of an entire planet. Now they want me to make up for it even though it was us who restored it? They were too afraid to come down here and fight, and I don't think they have the right to order me to do anything."

"But... what else can we do? They control all of Iacon at this point."

"You're saying I should give in?"

"Well... you don't have too much of a choice. I mean..."

"This is the start of the war all over again. We all agreed that we needed to challenge the council, we just didn't agree on how."

"Yeah, but Optimus won. What would he say?"

Ratchet looked off into the distance for a moment.

"He would tell me to give in, too. To keep the peace, to cooperate. But he was always soft like that."

"Soft? I've seen him singlehandedly pummel the scrap out of decepticons!"

"But I've lost count of the number of times he spared Megatron's life. He was always making excuses like 'if we turn violent against them, we'll be no better than them'."

Soundwave sat up slightly. Ratchet was using the past tense when referring to Optimus. Could it be?

"Which I agree with in principle," Ratchet continued, "but when you've seen the injuries firsthand, watched the eyes of autobots as their sparks fade... When is it enough?"

Smokescreen seemed to tense up, as though he was in over his head with the depth of the conversation.

"I mean... he and Megatron were like brothers before the war, right?"

"I lost friends to the decepticons too, Smokescreen. But even as well as I knew any of them, I would still have killed them if they'd had enough second chances as Megatron's had, and wasted."

The air went silent for a few tense moments, until Smokescreen spoke hesitantly, avoiding looking at Ratchet.

"So... What  _ are _ you going to do when we get back to Iacon?"

"I'll leave."

"The city?"

"If they're going to punish me for a crime I didn't commit, then I'm not going to live under their rule."

Wheeljack seemed to hear at least the last part of the conversation, given that he stepped out of the back room to look toward them.

"You're not really going to bail on us, are you?"

Ratchet stood up, looking toward Wheeljack with eyes both threatening and desperate.

"I sided with Optimus  _ and _ Megatron before the war because the Council was mistreating its citizens. I'm  _ not _ about to have half of my life go to waste by settling with the exact kind of society we tried to change in the first place!"

The room went silent again, and Soundwave turned to face Ratchet. Although the autobot could not see him, he still saluted somewhat with a clenched fist held to his chest. Ratchet had just voiced every criticism of the autobots that Soundwave himself had voiced, along with Megatron. Even as much as he wanted to kill the autobot, he did hold a certain respect for the one who essentially held his own position on the other side of the war. That, and the war was over now. The Cybertronian race had dwindled to an unsustainable population long ago, and there was no future left to fight over.

As Shockwave would probably say in this situation, it was no longer logical to wage war. Thus, the usually silent decepticon spoke again.

"Even if they will not accept you for what you believe, we will."

 

As he reclined again following the other autobots in their nervous failure at seeming calm, his thoughts turned back to Shockwave. He had seemed to forget about the frightful scientist until then. While he and Shockwave had rarely interacted before the day the scientist was stranded on Cybertron, they had always seemed to work well together, precisely because of their rare interaction. Both of them were only focused on what immediately needed their focus, and both thrived in an environment quieter than the social hell most other decepticons usually provided.

Once Shockwave returned to the Nemesis, however, they both seemed to grow even more comfortable in the others' presence. Maybe that was due to the condensation of the decepticon movement to a warship from an entire city, but part of him always suspected that Shockwave had grown to need his company after being isolated for so long. After all, he was the only decepticon the scientist seemed to tolerate for any length of time.

His mind dwelled on Shockwave for only a moment before sleep consumed him again, considering he was finally on the path to be soon reunited with whatever remnants of the decepticons remained.

And, if things went right, Ratchet among them.

 

A small jolt woke him up some time later, and he heard the engines die down, As Soundwave sat upright, the autobots seemed to gather every weapon they had, walking past him as they did so. Ratchet had returned to his normal antisocial state, evident by the tone his voice carried.

"If you think  _ anything _ is off, come back. We have no way of fighting an insecticon hive on our own."

Smokescreen replied as he fitted the phase shifter to his arm. That damned relic had become something of a signature weapon to him, one that he didn't even deserve.

"I'd hate to run from a fight but... got it."

He activated the device, causing its unique hum as he began punching the air in his usual naive style, his hands phasing through the walls of the ship and through Ratchet. Soundwave stood up to walk past him, however, only to be stopped as Smokescreen's arm came into contact with his own. Both mechs froze, one more confused by the scenario, whereas Soundwave was suddenly overcome with panic.

"Hey... Ratchet...?"

Soundwave swung with his other arm, striking Smokescreen in the side of his head and sending him reeling back in surprise. The medic looked back upon hearing the commotion.

"What are you  _ doing!? _ "

"There's something here- it just hit me!"

"And the phase shifter is on?"

"Yeah!"

Soundwave backed away, scenarios running through his mind of what he'd do if the autobots found him out. It was then that his eyes once again focused on the object in question - the phase shifter. His cables emerged from his torso, reaching out to Smokescreen and wrapping around his arm, the other digging underneath the bands affixing the relic to his arm and tearing the device completely off. Ratchet and Wheeljack both stood by him, trying to think of some way to help, but both being unable to interact with him or Soundwave. The decepticon pulled the phase shifter back to himself, placing it on his own arm.

Well, he thought, here goes nothing.

He deactivated it, watching the autobots' reactions with pure dread permeating his mind. If they found him, he'd have little chance to get back to Cybertron considering he was far from being in fighting shape, even against one autobot.

After a moment, however, the mechs began looking around the rest of the ship with shifty glances, clearly scared to move. Finally Ratchet spoke.

"By the allspark..."

Wheeljack looked toward him, clearly angry.

"Do I have to ask?"

"Soundwave."

"What?"

"Someone we can't see or hear, but can interact with people out of phase... This has to be Soundwave."

Smokescreen waved his hand through Wheeljack's torso.

"Need I remind you that I'm still out of phase?"

Ratchet's eyes tried to hide his fear, but Soundwave was the kind of decepticon who struck fear into the sparks of the dead. The medic took a shaky step forward, unintentionally looking directly at the hidden decepticon.

"Soundwave?"

He might have been disadvantaged in multiple ways, but fear always seemed effective in helping gain the upper hand. And if Megatron had taught him anything, it was that one's own perception of self was less useful than how others perceived them. He sent a simple ping to all the autobots, mostly questioning if the phase shifter had affected his ability to communicate at all. Ratchet seemed to tense up.

He'd received it.

"I... presume you're still in the Shadowzone then..."

[Yes.]

"Hey," Smokescreen interjected, "I'm not hearing anything..."

Ratchet's expression turned confused for a moment. Though, it made sense. Previously Soundwave was out of phase with all of them. Smokescreen went into an alternate phase, and then he was able to interact with him. But once Soundwave used the phase shifter again...

"I think Soundwave might only be in phase with us now."

"Then why can't we see him?"

"Smokescreen, please. I barely understand how the phase shifter works."

Soundwave smiled behind his visor. He was now better than being out of phase with them - he was a ghost. He could do whatever he wanted, and do so without detection. He could practically taste their hidden fear in the air.

Although... it was then that he realized he now could sense Ratchet's aura, as well as Wheeljack's. The question was, could they sense his?

"Soundwave..." Ratchet said hesitantly. "We're willing to cooperate... if... you can help us find the relic buried here."

Clearly he'd made that up on the spot. Wheeljack turned slightly to look at him.

"You're not really making deals with 'cons now, are you? Why should we help him?"

Soundwave promptly emitted a jamming frequency, but one aimed only at Wheeljack. The autobot promptly cried out, trying to cover his audio receptors as his whole body was wracked with pain.

Oh, how he'd missed doing that.

Finally the wrecker collapsed to the floor, and Ratchet backed away, clearly gripped with fear. Soundwave replied a moment later.

[Because you know what I'm capable of.]

"... Fine then. What is it you want from us?"

[Take me to Cybertron.]

He looked toward the computer console Ratchet had been working on and hesitantly laid his fingers on the keyboard, finding that he was indeed able to interact with it. As he started typing furiously, Ratchet and Smokescreen both drew slightly closer, trying to see what he was doing. After only a few moments, a chart came up, showing a diagram of the nearby topography and the spot where the relic seemed to be. Based on the scan and his own memory of some of the Iacon database, the artifact in question was either a shield bubble device or the location of a dark energon cache, neither of which would be very useful to the autobots.

[Here is the location of your relic.]

Smokescreen's voice barely spoke out, but did so in disbelief.

"H-How..."

"He's Soundwave."

[Second most capable decepticon to have ever lived.]

"Wait," Ratchet said, moreso curious than afraid. "How could you hear us before?"

"He was listening to everything we said? That's like... horror movie creepy right there."

[I would like to know as well.]

"That doesn't make sense... Someone in the shadowzone can see and hear us but we can't see or hear them?"

[That should not be your concern at the moment.]

Ratchet tensed up suddenly, and Soundwave smirked somewhat. Fear was truly the most powerful weapon. The medic hesitantly stepped toward the computer, and Soundwave backed away in response. Smokescreen kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other. For one as young and restless as him, it must have been somewhat agonizing not to be able to help. Ratchet worked silently for a few moments, then looked up again.

"How do I know you won't just terrorize everyone in Iacon?"

That was a good question. A thought still lurked in the back of Soundwave's mind that Ratchet could be swayed to join them, not even so much as a devious plot but as a statement to the other autobots. Nonetheless, his words had to be chosen very carefully.

[There would be no reason to fight, as there is nothing left to fight over.]

Ratchet let out something of a nervous laugh. "That's what I keep trying to tell the council."

The ship lifted off of the ground again, and Ratchet seemed to look around nervously, considering he could not see Soundwave at all, or apparently the phase shifter he had with him. The decepticon relaxed somewhat, knowing he was driving the situation.

[It is a rare occurrence that the decepticons would side with you.]

"Well that's... nice to know, I guess."

For a while the ship was painfully silent, until Ratchet turned to Smokescreen.

"You have to call them."

"Why?"

"They won't let me back unless there's a good reason, and they'll be more willing to believe you."

"What do I say?"

"Say we woke the insecticon hive, and that we have an autobot down."

Smokescreen reached for the radio, but his hand phased through it. Ratchet grabbed it instead, pressing one button and looking toward Smokescreen.

"Uhh... Iacon... command?" he said hesitantly. The response took a moment, and when it arrived, it was clouded in static.

"Spacebridge control, identify yourself."

"Smokescreen?"

Soundwave facepalmed, and it was clear Ratchet was trying not to do the same thing.

"Spacebridge control, who is the captain of your ship."

"Ratchet. But... we encountered an insecticon hive, and we have an autobot down. We need backup."

Ratchet nodded in approval. The following response took longer than usual.

"Spacebridge control to hunter ship, return is authorized."

Ratchet set down the radio, and Smokescreen looked away, somewhat dejected.

"I feel wrong knowing I just helped a decepticon."

A spacebridge portal formed before them a moment later, and the ship flew through the green vortex. Finally Soundwave looked up, once again laying eyes on his home planet, damaged and scarred as it was. They flew high above the surface, but not out of reach for a predator drone.

"We're not taking you all the way to Iacon," Ratchet muttered. Soundwave took a moment to respond, once again choosing his words carefully.

[If you make the reasonable choice to leave Iacon... there might just be another place for you.]

With that, he opened the hatch to the outside and dropped out of the ship, transforming and simply gliding through the air. On the horizon he was able to spot the Well and the remains of the Nemesis beside it, resting among the shining lights of a new Iacon. Finally he was able to access a decepticon beacon, and he turned toward the south, toward the ruins of Kaon; naturally where any remaining decepticons would have fled.

 

He was incredibly fortunate that his alternate mode was an exceptional glider, since by the time he reached the source of the signal, he barely had the energy to walk. His whole body felt heavy, and it seemed like every step brought him just a bit closer to collapsing.

Eventually he stepped through a rusted door near the ruins of Kaon, leaning his weight against the doorframe as he looked inside, staring at the purple form of Shockwave facing away from him, doing something related to the lab he was in.

He was alive... All of his concern suddenly melted away, and he sent a silent message to the scientist.

[Stuck in parallel dimension "shadowzone". Phase shifter with me. Standing in the doorway.]

Shockwave turned around, looking toward him but clearly unable to see him.

"I developed an alternate way to access that dimension weeks ago, but you've been stranded on Earth, haven't you?"

Shockwave gestured to a device in the corner, looking like a makeshift cage woven solid with various wires and mechanisms.

"It's rudimentary. Tell me when you're standing in it."

It took some mental effort to bring himself over to the other side of the room, but Soundwave finally stepped into the space in the center of the mass of wires.

[Here.]

Shockwave flipped a large switch, causing the lights in the room to go out for a moment. The space around Soundwave almost seemed to turn distorted and oddly blue. There was a sound like space shearing itself apart, although it manifested moreso as an assailing sensation rather than a physical sound. After almost a minute, the device shut off, and he looked toward Shockwave, who was the first to speak.

"Welcome back."

Soundwave would have responded, but it felt as though he was still stuck in flux, given the way everything seemed muffled. Colors were pale, the quietest sounds were almost painful in volume, and the world seemed to drift away as he finally collapsed. He didn't even notice he was falling until he felt Shockwave barely manage to catch him. Even in his delirium, however, he knew he was finally safe.


	2. Trust

Such was the return of the decepticons, despite the fact that the war was over.

The beacon that had brought Soundwave soon brought others; stray vehicons, a few insecticons, and a badly damaged Starscream. His injuries had not been limited to his physical form either; it was his pride that suffered the most. While for most, a broken spirit was easily fixed with enough time, Starscream was as much a narcissist as he was a traitor; one for whom the death of pride was the death of self. It had been something of a defense mechanism to him, considering how frequently Megatron had literally taken his anger out on him. So long as the seeker believed he was worthy of his status, he was. Everyone found his incessant bragging pretentious and obnoxious, but to see Starscream so distraught and hopeless as he was upon being delivered to Shockwave, was almost more distressing than Megatron's unknown status.

It was though the seeker had died that day, and with him all decepticon pride.

Soon the ruins of Kaon had become something of a small village, with makeshift buildings but a pristine laboratory. And soon the beacon had brought yet another dead spirit - that of Megatron.

Much like Starscream, his mind had been all but consumed by the things he'd suffered. In his case, he had been forcibly controlled by Unicron, all free will useless against the destroyer. Megatron had seemed, at times, to even fail to realize that he was now free. He frequently retreated into his own mind, refusing to respond to the outside world or even acknowledge it. When he did, it was with hesitation, as though he still felt a ghost of Unicron fighting his will.

Of course, with both Megatron and Starscream out of commission, the task of commanding the sparse troops fell to Soundwave and Shockwave. In the process, the former had begun to remember why he never took the rank of second in command, and the latter began to remember why he never took any commanding rank to begin with. Neither one was well suited to the task of delegation, since they were both the best in whatever they did.

Nonetheless, over time Soundwave had set up something similar to the computer system aboard the Nemesis, allowing him to abstract himself from the vehicons. But even that didn't alleviate the larger problem he had, which was that he had no idea where to take the crew that looked up to him. He had never foreseen anything similar to the scenario he found himself in, and he was not used to making his own choices.

Megatron had long told him to seize his independence, even since they were both gladiators in Kaon. Soundwave had been a slave for so long, built and programmed to serve, that even when he made his own decisions, it was usually for someone else. As much as Megatron preached the idea of equality between the castes, he was also the kind of powerful figure that slaves naturally followed. And even though the gladiator considered him a friend and an equal, Soundwave had, somewhat unintentionally, become a willing slave again. After all, he pledged his life to the decepticon cause, trading away his freedom only because Megatron had granted it to him.

But Soundwave was left without guidance outside of Shockwave's vague advice, and found himself lost, as were all the vehicons that followed him. After all, many of them were also former slaves, or had been born during the war, both scenarios leaving them without any experience of freedom. Outside of focusing on Megatron and Starscream's recoveries, he had no plan.

 

This thought constantly ate away at him, reminding him time and time again of his limitations. Every decision he made reminded him, as did every face of every vehicon that gazed at him.

It was after an otherwise normal day that he had retreated toward the depths of old Kaon, walking past gray streets and gray buildings all decayed by rust and time. The air was silent, the fragmented remains of Kolkular fortress resting at an angle on the horizon. He stepped into one particular building, preserved fairly well for its age, and looked around at the decorative rafters and warped columns, angular tiled floors and smooth walls. What were supposed to be windows were all but gone, allowing the faint breeze to carry dust into the room.

The room itself was large and spacious, considering the structure was built to contain a natural oil spring. The edges of the spring had the same tiled floor as the rest of the building, although given that it sloped down into the rest of the basin, many of the tiles had slid out from their places, revealing the natural shining stone beneath it. Soundwave stared at his own reflection in the mirror the spring created for a moment before climbing down across broken stairs to the edge of the pool. He had heard of this place frequently when Kaon was still habitable, but had never actually been to it. Hesitantly he stepped into the amber pool, watching the disruption he created in its surface radiate away from him. It was not very warm, and as such it was still somewhat thick. Still, it was warm enough to be comfortable, and so Soundwave stepped further inward, finding a spot beside a ledge and lowering himself down to the floor, still somewhat hesitant to submerge himself in it. However, as the oil began to seep into his joints, its vague warmth overtook him, which was both strange and calming. After a while he undid the latches on his visor and removed it, setting it on the ledge beside him. It was not often anymore that he saw the reflection of his actual face. His visor had initially been something of a symbolic gesture, in a way giving up his identity in an attempt to represent all decepticons, but it had quickly become useful, as well as comforting. No one had become able to guess what he was thinking, and given the way it blocked some of his peripheral vision, it allowed him to more easily avoid distraction.

But as he gazed out through the window across from him, there was no filter on what he saw. The points of starlight in the sky pierced through millions of lightyears of the black void of space to reach him, and as such he looked into the past. From one of those stars, it was probably possible to see the stray light from ages ago when Cybertron was still at peace.

After some time lost in thought, the sound of an engine caught his attention, and Soundwave quickly placed his visor back over his face. He heard someone outside transform, but based on the sound of the footsteps that followed, it was identifiable as Shockwave. The scientist stepped into the building hesitantly, looking around for a moment before finally gazing at Soundwave.

"... Why are you here?"

His question had been asked with a neutral tone, but based on experience, it was clear that Shockwave was genuinely baffled by the scenario. Soundwave stared away from him, instead looking back through the window showing the stars above and part of the dilapidated fortress in the distance.

[Why did you follow me here?]

Shockwave stayed silent for some time as he wandered into the building, looking around at what it used to be. Finally he replied, although in a way he completely failed to answer the question he'd been asked.

"I am forced to wait for my current experiments to take their course."

[Experiments on what?]

"Synthetic dark energon."

Soundwave finally looked at him, and the scientist wandered over near him, sitting down on the ledge he leaned against, letting his legs dangle into the oil.

They had been spending so much time locked away in the lab together that many of the vehicons had begun suspecting they were involved in some kind of affair, although in reality they only did so because space was limited, and they were both introverts. Nonetheless, the very knowledge of those rumors had made their interactions rather awkward, at least to Soundwave. Shockwave didn't seem to care.

The silent decepticon finally responded, if only to draw his own attention away from what was happening.

[What would you use it for?]

"That depends on if it possesses any side effects. If not, it may be possible to revive the Nemesis."

[Trypticon?]

"The original Trypticon is long deceased, and would be of little help given his... intellect."

[Then why use it on the Nemesis?]

"Its previous infusion of dark energon allowed it to repair itself, at the cost of the crew's control over it. Considering the factors present at the time, it was worth the trouble."

[Even if that were to work, the wreckage is in the heart of autobot territory now.]

"Yes, and logic would dictate that they're also salvaging it. Needless to say, my research into this course of action is in its infancy."

Shockwave looked down at Soundwave for a moment, then over toward the window that consumed his attention. Silently they stared, both radiating a calm, neutral aura, until Shockwave looked back at the other decepticon.

"So why  _ are _ you here?"

This time the question was less accusatory than the first. Soundwave still hesitated to respond, though, given that he was not entirely certain what had brought him there.

[I don't really know. I miss Kaon.]

"That does not seem logical."

[Why?]

As he spoke, Shockwave moved his weight off of the ledge and submerged himself in the oil beside Soundwave, which was not something he had expected.

"Kaon was either a city for the lower castes, or a military state. Neither one tends to be well favored."

Soundwave briefly looked toward the scientist with a passing glance.

[Now I'm obliged to an answer as to why you followed me here.]

Shockwave stared down at the distortions of light in the amber pool, his aura quieting somewhat. Whatever it was he was feeling, if anything, he was trying to hide. He stayed quiet, seemingly lost in thought, until finally he answered.

"I was isolated on a dead Cybertron long enough once before."

So he was right. Shockwave  _ had  _ grown to need his company. It should have seemed endearing, but it was so strange as well... Shockwave was the kind of person who locked himself in his lab, refusing to speak to anyone for days on end. He spent so much effort avoiding others that it seemed out of place for him to follow Soundwave out of some desire for social interaction.

"I presume you're questioning the logic in my implication," he said, back to his regular neutral tone. "Usually my research is engrossing enough, but that degree of isolation does not leave much to study."

[But what does following me around do?]

"You are interesting."

Soundwave froze somewhat upon hearing this, as he wasn't sure how to interpret it, but the scientist spoke again before he could respond anyway.

"To clarify, you occasionally provide ideas, and are one of only a few educated enough to appreciate my work."

The two went silent again, as all had been answered. And as it stood, it seemed as though Shockwave did indeed hold some attachment to him, which still made no real sense. He had known Shockwave since before he knew Megatron, given that he was at one point a surgeon in Kaon tasked with repairing its gladiators. But for all that time, he had never once seen Shockwave show enjoyment of anything; it was either obsession, apathy, or hatred.

 

Soundwave remained relatively motionless for some time, trying to process what exactly it meant if the scientist liked him, since usually simple appreciation didn't manifest in following someone to an oil spring. Maybe the vehicons were more perceptive than he was.

Or maybe he was overthinking it.

He wasn't sure how much time went by as they remained there in the calm silence, but it did not feel like very long before Shockwave looked at his gun arm, retracting a panel to show a screen underneath.

"I must return."

That was all he said. He stood up and stepped out of the pool, barely waiting to let himself dry before transforming and driving off.

That seemed more characteristic of him.

Soundwave soon followed, waiting somewhat only to avoid supporting the strange perception the vehicons had of them. He really shouldn't have cared, but with so few vehicons, he had become less mysterious, and he didn't trust them to know too much about him.

As he went to leave, however, a trace signal caught his attention, and he turned to face the direction of its source, deploying the small receiver dish from behind his head. He closed his eyes, focusing solely on the transmission. He knew when a signal required his attention, and this felt like one of those times.

Despite the fact that it was buried in static and not in a format he was used to, it did not take him very long to interpret its content.

[Soundwave]

That was it. That was what it said.

He transformed and flew toward the source, his mind running through various scenarios of what it could be, even though it was most likely Ratchet. Still, it seemed odd for the autobot to deliberately seek him out.

 

Soundwave transformed and let himself drop to the ground some time later, finding that it was indeed the autobot medic who had summoned him. He kept his distance, watching as the medic stood up from where he had been waiting, and walked toward the decepticon.

"I thought you would have used a groundbridge?" he said.

Soundwave stayed silent, staring toward Ratchet, waiting for him to speak again. He seemed to attain an irritated look upon being answered with silence.

"I presume you can tell I left Iacon."

Soundwave nodded.

"I don't have much of a choice here."

He hesitated before continuing finally.

"I'm offering my help if you'd be willing to accept it."

Soundwave was mostly waiting for him to say it first. He sent his own response, tilting his head ever so slightly in questioning.

[If you don't have a choice, then why did you leave?]

Ratchet looked away, clearly hating himself for the situation he found himself in.

"It's picking the lesser of two evils."

[Then you do have a choice.]

They remained in silence for a moment, but finally Soundwave's visor lit up, pinpointing his coordinates and summoning a groundbridge portal behind him. Ratchet looked confused for a moment.

"Then why did you fly here?"

[Conservation.]

With that, he turned and stepped through the portal, smiling behind his visor. He looked around at the various troops in the room and sent a local message.

[If the autobot comes through that portal, he is one of us. Do not fire.]

Soundwave moved to glance at the main computer console, listening to the sound of the groundbridge. If he paid too much attention to Ratchet, it would probably make him overly suspicious. Even though they were severely in need of more help, it was best to feign disinterest for now.

He heard the autobot walk through the portal, and promptly sent a message to Shockwave.

[I have recruited Ratchet.]

He felt the auras of the vehicons around him turn somewhat concerned, and he looked over at a few of them as he shut off the groundbridge. His stare was not capable of comforting anyone, but the vehicons nonetheless began to return to what they had been doing before. He received a message from Shockwave as he turned to face Ratchet again.

[That was unexpected, but not unwelcome.]

The autobot looked around nervously, hesitant to move from his spot. He clearly did not want to be here. Finally Soundwave stepped toward him, radiating a calm approval in his aura. As much as he wished not to speak, even if it was via silent messages, he was in command now, and he was the only one who could voice his opinions.

[I understand that you did not wish to come here purely by your own choice. But know that your value to us lies in your contributions, and that as of now, we are greatly in need of such contributions.]

"Is that a threat?"

Only an autobot could ever interpret a message like that as a threat.

[If it were, it would be egregiously counterproductive.]

A sudden noise caught the decepticon's attention, and he looked over across the room only to find that a vehicon had merely dropped an energon cube. As he glanced back at Ratchet, he once again noticed the medic's disdain both for Soundwave and for every other decepticon around. He managed to keep his aura somewhat neutral, but everything else he did made him look painfully bitter, even down to the way he kept his hands curled tightly into fists at his sides.

Soundwave continued to stare as he formulated his next message carefully.

[If you do not want to be here, then you are only undermining your own ideology by leaving a society you disapprove of for another.]   
Ratchet seemed to grow increasingly hostile as he stepped toward Soundwave, staring at him with eyes full of hatred.

"And what would you know about my ideology?"

[Enough.]

"I don't need to explain myself to you. Don't think for a minute that you or any decepticon can tell me what's right."

Soundwave replayed a brief recording of Megatron in response.

"Alright then."

Without hesitation, he turned and walked away. This was a delicate situation, and he was only doing what he thought best, despite lacking guidance. If he ignored Ratchet, he would be made to feel unneeded and would probably leave, but if he was too insistent on having the autobot stay, it could easily be interpreted as a ploy to gain information from him.

Suddenly he admired Starscream, of all people. The seeker was much more manipulative and insightful into matters such as these than he ever could be.

 

Ratchet never became any friendlier as events took their course, but he did cooperate somewhat, with regard to the groundbridge at least. He was certainly not happy to learn that Megatron and Starscream were there as well, but it seemed as though seeing their states had quieted him somewhat. Megatron  _ himself _ didn't want to be there. Soundwave frequently sought him out, asking what he should do or mentioning other happenings, but the gladiator usually answered with complete apathy, if at all. Sometimes, however, his occasional speech was laced with implications that he had been forced to come to Kaon, which was somewhat true, or that he was being kept against his will, or that his merely still being alive was its own atrocity, and it seemed that even Ratchet was sympathetic to the destroyed character he'd become. Understandably, however, he still refused to interact with Megatron at all. Fortunately, that was not an interaction Soundwave would have trusted anyway.

Starscream, on the other hand, and somewhat ironically, was more violent about his disdain for Shockwave and his attempts to repair him.

 

Soundwave stepped into the small room where the seeker laid, his battered form glaring over at the decepticon scientist. One arm held his other close to him, and he glanced at Soundwave as he entered.   
"And there  _ you _ are."

Shockwave seemed to ignore his presence, instead turning to Starscream and reaching toward the arm he clutched. The seeker immediately turned away as much as he could, grabbing Shockwave's wrist and shoving it away from him.

"Don't touch me!"

Soundwave and Shockwave exchanged merely a glance, still managing to share an understanding of the scientist's mild aggravation, and the silent figure's sympathy. Starscream spoke again, sounding more annoyed than his fatigued and dejected aura made him out to be.

"Don't pretend this isn't your fault. Go ahead, finish what you started."

Shockwave stared at him, his single red eye conveying nothing, but rather looming above him like a searchlight.

"I am working in your best interest, Starscream, whether you wish me to or not."

"Why?" he asked with a mocking tone. "You don't need me."

"On the contrary, the decepticons will function more smoothly under your command."   
"What if I don't want to command them?"

Shockwave seemed to ignore the seeker as he tried to grab his arm again, only to be met with a quick slash from Starscream's freakish claws, leaving three parallel marks on his own arm as he reflexively pulled it back. With barely a second thought, the scientist instead swung with his gun arm, bashing the side of Starscream's head and promptly knocking him unconscious. Soundwave looked toward the purple form, sensing his waning aggravation.

[That seemed unnecessary.]

"That was reflexive. But he was obstructing my work."

Shockwave looked at the side of his arm and the scratch marks on it, two of which glowed blue with energon.

"He is... unnecessarily difficult. Did you need something?"

[I did, but I forgot what it was.]

"Is Starscream that entertaining to you?"

Shockwave finally grabbed the seeker's arm, somehow managing to both hold it and a small tool in the same hand, although what exactly he was doing with it was unknown. Years of existing with one hand had made him remarkably dextrous, it seemed.

Soundwave looked off into the distance, losing himself in thought for a moment. This was where he was. A worn out underground complex, filled with the sad remnants of the decepticon movement, all of which was under his command. He had somehow left a military and returned to a refugee camp. Why was this still so hard to accept?

Shockwave looked over at him slowly, radiating just a hint of uneasiness.

"What is it?"

Soundwave said nothing, merely letting his aura convey his discontent. The scientist almost seemed stifled by this, unsure of whether to say anything or return to his work. After a moment he decided on the latter, but Soundwave continued to idly stare at him, failing to consciously notice the awkward sense he radiated, considering his attention was focused elsewhere. After a few more moments, however, Shockwave set down what he was holding rather abruptly, turning to look at Soundwave again.

"You are being distracting."

Soundwave finally snapped out of his minor trance, looking away from the scientist's ominous gaze.

[Sorry.]

"Does your concern involve me in some way?"

[Only because you are the only person here I can trust.]

"And that is distressing?"

Shockwave had calmed somewhat from before, returning to his neutral state. Thus, the question sounded neither insulted nor accusatory. Soundwave, on the other hand, couldn't help but let a trace of guilt permeate his own aura. That was not what he meant at all.

[No, it's merely that you are unable to help me in the way I would like.]

"I do not recall your ever asking for my help."

[Why are you interrogating me?]

Shockwave went silent for a moment, as was usually the case when the answer he would have given was illogical.

"... Your efficiency here is paramount."

The scientist clearly wanted to help, he just needed a decent excuse for it. Soundwave would have asked what it was the scientist was originally going to say, but he knew that wouldn't go anywhere.

[I have no frame of reference to know if what I am doing is right.]

Shockwave seemed to think for a moment before stepping out of the room and heading toward the other lab. It was somewhat late, and as such, few vehicons were wandering around for whatever reasons compelled them. Shockwave spoke somewhat quietly, his tone almost more curious than anything else.

"That depends on what metric you use for determining what 'right' is. I go only by what is logical, assuming several otherwise arbitrary constructs."

[And those are?]

"The first concerns the idea that each person can be valued by their abilities. This is possibly the only reason I allied with the decepticons in the first place. The second is to consider the value of potential outcomes compared to the likelihood of them occurring. One could make a case for destroying the remaining autobots now, assuming they will eventually attack, but as it stands now, I do not see that outcome as being very likely, and as such I do not see an attack as being a logical course of action."

Soundwave followed him into the other, far more spacious lab that had become something of a safehaven to him, and he relaxed somewhat, going so far as to sit up on one of the tables in the room. Shockwave looked briefly at his computer console before continuing.

"The third construct relates more to psychological tendencies. People tend to work most efficiently when they have something immaterial they want, and are working for something material they want. But I have found that many decepticons, like you, forego the desire for anything material and are content working merely for approval so long as their efforts help others."

Soundwave would never have defined himself that way, but as his mind considered those words, he found them to be more fitting than he first thought. As such, he remained still for a moment before looking toward Shockwave.

[And what impact does that realization have on anything?]

"Well..." Shockwave said, as though the question had roused an entire hour's worth of explanation. "For one, you are exceedingly difficult to manipulate."

[Thank you?]

"I do not attempt the same deceptive type of manipulation that Starscream utilizes. You are practically immune to that type. Any assistance I gain from someone else is, ideally, mutually beneficial. But there is nothing I can offer you personally in order to satisfy that requirement. You have no desires or aspirations of your own. You have no sense of self."

[You too?]

"Hmm?"

[Megatron has said the same thing to me on many occasions.]

"Unlike me, he is working in your best interest... Or... was."

Soundwave radiated a sudden anger upon hearing Shockwave use past tense, but it quickly faded, and he sent another message.

[What do you mean, unlike you?]

Shockwave wandered vaguely in his direction as he spoke, looking at the floor.

"It would be unreasonable to place you as my first priority, even though your value to the decepticons outweighs everyone else here combined."

Soundwave stared at him, unsure of how exactly to interpret his words.

[Still, you can't say my life is worth more than everyone else.]

"But to some degree, it is."

Shockwave idly grabbed Soundwave's left wrist, seeming to look at several subtle marks on his arm as he spoke. Despite the fact that his touch was surprisingly gentle, Soundwave reflexively pulled his hand back, having not expected this at all.

"I... sorry... Nonetheless, any number of people here could lose their lives, and it would not damage productivity nearly as much as if you were to perish. You are irreplaceable. There is a reason we trust you."

Soundwave looked away, radiating a feeling similar to an annoyed sigh.

"This is what I mean," Shockwave said. "You do not value yourself as much as anyone here does."

[Is that such a bad thing?]

Shockwave still stood somewhat close to him, probably unintentionally.

"It is unhealthy. And somewhat contradictory."

[I know this already.]

"The decepticons revolved around freedom, yet its most productive individual is one who has refused to free himself."

[I  _ know _ this already.]

"I... somewhat admire you for it."

Soundwave looked back at him, considering that comment caught him off guard. Shockwave continued after a moment, his aura unsettlingly quiet.

"You possess a sense of altruism I thought impossible."

[Were you going somewhere with this, or...]

"You are more fit to lead the decepticons than you may realize. Admittedly you are not well suited to the practical nature of it, but you are unaffected by bias. I had to explain why or you would have rejected the assertion outright."

That made enough sense, but Shockwave was still being incredibly confusing. Everything he did was uncharacteristically kind instead of merely apathetic, and yet he seemed to have a reason for it all.

The room was painfully silent for some time, and Shockwave stepped away to his computer console. Soundwave stared at him, trying to think of how he could phrase what he wanted to ask. After a few moments, the scientist turned around to meet his gaze.

"... Why do you keep staring at me?"

[I'm... confused as to whether your insistence on being nice to me is purely platonic or indicative of something else.]

Shockwave looked away for a moment, as though thinking of an answer. Soundwave held a hand to his head, immediately regretful of what he had just done. Nonetheless, the fact that he had finally said what he wanted to say was somewhat relieving. Shockwave spoke, his tone quiet and neutral.

"I wouldn't know."

Soundwave stared at him again, genuinely confused. Shockwave continued after a moment.

"I am apathetic toward such trifles. I did not intend to imply anything, but similarly I am not... averse to either interpretation."

[You're not helping my confusion.]

"I genuinely have no preference."

Soundwave continued to look away, resting his head in one hand, practically drowning in the shame present in his own aura. After a moment he heard Shockwave walk up to him again, merely standing there, though not as awkwardly close as he had been before.

"You seem disappointed by that answer."

Technically that was true, but not for the reason Shockwave had implied. Probably. Even Soundwave was unsure, and that made him all the more furious at himself. Finally the scientist hesitantly placed a hand to the side of Soundwave's other arm, only for a moment before walking away and leaving the room. What was  _ that _ supposed to mean?

 

Despite the fact that Shockwave never brought the subject up, Soundwave still felt almost overwhelmed by how confusing everything seemed to be suddenly. He avoided the scientist as much as was possible, and when it wasn't, he read into Shockwave's subtle mannerisms to the point of paranoia. It was probably impossible for Shockwave to hold any sort of attachment to him, but then why was  _ he _ so confused about it? Soundwave had no interest in defiling the one comfortable relationship he had left, but it seemed as though merely considering the possibility of another option tormented him.

But, the workings of the Kaon base continued, and so Soundwave found himself standing beside Ratchet, looking at the large screen connected to Shockwave's console. The autobot, of course, was still wary of every decepticon around him, but anger was mentally fatiguing, and so over time it had gone from suppressed hatred to mild annoyance. He looked toward the purple figure, speaking in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"Well, this must be particularly important for you to bother to tell me about it."

Shockwave responded, still facing away from him.

"This concerns all decepticons. And you."

Ratchet merely crossed his arms, and Shockwave continued after a moment, finally turning around to face him and Soundwave.

"Although it may be irrelevant as of now, I have analyzed past scans of various exoplanets, and found one of interest."

Soundwave tilted his head slightly. This must have been somewhat significant, or he wouldn't bother mentioning it.

"97% of the planet is composed of energon."

"That's... impossible," Ratchet interjected. "Cybertron is the only planet where it's ever been found naturally."

"That is true, but spectroscopy results are undeniable."

"How are you getting spectral scans from a planet?"

"It emits light consistent with energon radiation."

Ratchet seemed to quiet, holding a hand nervously to his face. Shockwave turned to Soundwave instead.

"The reason I bring this up now is that this energon planet is a rogue planet, and is on track to be most accessible to us within the next cycle. Even then, it is farther than we could reach by spacebridge alone. Ideally it would have been more prudent to mention this sooner, but I only learned of this planet's composition recently."

[Are you suggesting we build another ship?]

"I believe it possible to construct a working ship from the smaller wreckage sites of seven others nearby. Part of this complex can also be separated to form part of it."

Soundwave stared at the floor for a moment, lost in thought.

"But the logistics of this task are only viable if we gain the assistance of the insecticons remaining on earth."

Ratchet finally looked back at him.

"You still want to use insecticons? Haven't you had enough failures with them?"

"The loss of our prior insecticon hive was only due to Airachnid's interference. They have rudimentary collective intelligence and a more prominent hive-mind mentality, but the latter is more immediately useful to us. It was the former that allowed her to take control of them."

"And you know they would want to cooperate with you?"

"They naturally fall under appropriate leadership."

Soundwave met the scientist's gaze and gave a slow nod as he sent out a new directive to the vehicons. They didn't even have precise plans for what to do with the wrecked spacecraft yet, but somehow he knew there was something special to this plan. Ratchet still looked annoyed, but after a few tense moments, he finally spoke.

"What do you want me to do?"

Shockwave, as usual, answered as though he were only talking to himself.

"Your talents would be most efficiently utilized upgrading the groundbridge for space travel. Salvage teams will gather whatever you need. Nonetheless, there are many aspects of this plan's logistics that need to be settled first."

Soundwave stared at the scientist intently enough to warrant his attention, although neither one emitted anything notable in their auras. After a moment he sent a formal message to those in the room, as well as several vehicons who had been designated as group leaders to discuss specifics later that day. Shockwave spoke quietly, although his aura was trying to hide just a hint of concern.

"That will work."

For him, that was good enough. Soundwave nodded again before walking off, considering he was desperate to keep his interactions with the scientist to a minimum. This plan was a good new direction, but was it right? The decepticons had no reason to leave their home, but then again, an entire planet composed of energon was something to fight for. He strode through the hallways of the complex, compiling the details of what needed to be done for now, all while his mind focused on the possibility of that planet. Shockwave had only provided a mere suggestion of a project, and yet already it felt as though some new life had been breathed into not just him, but the vehicons. They stood tall, glancing at him with some sort of newfound respect as though he had just conquered the planet in question.

All he had said in his global directive was that there was a new plan that might be put into effect. It seemed after weeks of merely existing on a dead world, any change in direction was something to be thankful for.

Before he could even react, however, a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him into an adjacent room. He looked up to find that it was Shockwave, of all people, who had somehow managed to sneak up on him. Soundwave ripped his arm away from the scientist, who finally backed away.

"Is your continued avoidance of me something I provoked?"

[You scare the hell out of me just to ask me that?]

"Pacifism has not worked thus far."

[Why do you care what I think of you?]

The room was somewhat dim, and as such, Shockwave's eye was truly haunting. Of course, this contrasted heavily with his words and his calm aura.

"If we are to begin work on a large project, your cooperation is invaluable."

Soundwave stared at him, once again heavily confused by what he meant. After a moment, however, the scientist spoke again.

"And... I must admit I am somewhat partial to your company. I am less likely to be disturbed in your presence."

The silent decepticon merely continued to stare, considering that didn't help at all. Again he felt smothered by his own aura as well as Shockwave's. This was exactly why he had started avoiding him in the first place; this feeling was awful, as though he was slowly being killed by burning confusion. Shockwave looked away, seeming to notice Soundwave's internal turmoil but being unaffected by it.

"Whatever I might have done to cause this, I apologize."

Shockwave was supposed to be completely unbiased, uncaring of whatever happened outside his lab, and here he was trying to resolve what had driven Soundwave to distance himself from him, all while only furthering it. Since, yet again, the same question was applicable.

[Is that motivated by an attraction to me or not?]

"If I say that it is, will you cease avoiding me?"

Soundwave could only continue to stare, not only realizing that he asked what he did without realizing it, but trying to process what Shockwave had just said.

[You... are?]

"I did not say that. I am impartial. But you seem to be set on one answer or the other."

[Then you'd be lying either way.]

"Also untrue. But as it stands now, I can find no answer that will seem to conform to your standards, which is why I asked my earlier question. Considering the fact that you were initially the one to bring up the possibility of my actions implying a... different type of relationship, I somewhat assumed you were open to the possibility. And considering your apparent offense at my stating I am impartial, you supported the assertion that you were seeking that alternative. Am I correct?"

Soundwave stared at the floor, unsure of what to say. After all, this was the very thing he had been fighting himself over, and, of course, Shockwave managed to analyze it more clearly than he did.

[... Yes?]

"Then my answer to your previous question is also yes."

The room went silent, as did Soundwave's aura. What exactly just happened?

[You're saying you  _ are _ attracted to me? Or are you impartial about that too?]

"I believe you are misinterpreting my use of the word 'impartial'."

[I... have no idea what any of this is supposed to mean.]

"Whatever you believe it to mean, I suppose."

They both went silent for another moment, and Shockwave looked off into the distance. His aura seemed calm on the outside, but even he looked as though he was succumbing to the painful awkwardness around them.

"I will... see you at the meeting."

He walked out of the room, leaving Soundwave to wonder what in the name of Primus just happened. Fortunately he had plenty of distractions, and these soon stole his attention even though he remained in the small room Shockwave had dragged him into. After all, it was suitably quiet.

Only a couple hours passed before the meeting at hand, and Soundwave had barely found enough time to compile a fitting outline of what needed to be done before he wandered into the room and sat down at one side of the square U-shaped table. Even though everyone hated meetings like this, it was a welcome reminder of how the decepticons used to function. And even though this one in particular was different merely because Soundwave would have to run it, it provided some glimmer of hope to those taking part, even before it started. Several vehicons joined, sitting awkwardly in the silence considering they had probably never been in one of these meetings before. By circumstance, they had been designated to lead individual squadrons, and thus were never exposed to positions of leadership before. Shockwave's entering the room was less awkward than Soundwave would have thought, but to be fair, neither of them would ever acknowledge their personal trifles in the presence of vehicons, or anyone else, for that matter.

Ratchet was the last to join them despite the fact that he was still early, and Soundwave sighed silently behind his visor. He was finding himself needing to speak much more often than he would have liked. But just as he was about to begin, a sound caught his attention, and he looked toward the door. He heard footsteps, but no one else needed to join the meeting, and as such he was temporarily confused as to who it was. As he recognized the distinctive sound, however, he shot upright and stood up abruptly enough to knock his chair back. Everyone else in the room glanced at him, but upon hearing the sound, they too stood up, and watched as Megatron entered. Soundwave hadn't even asked him to join them, so why was he here? Not that he was offended, of course. The gladiator held his hands behind him as he addressed the followers who were rightfully his, although even in his most regal posture, he still lacked the essence of power he used to have. Something in his eyes was empty. Still, his mere presence was welcome.

"You need not stand every time I walk into a room. For now, I am an observer."

Hesitantly the room's occupants sat back down and Megatron soon followed, looking toward Soundwave, who was promptly stunned enough to where Shockwave had to send a silent ping to him in order for him to snap out of his trance. Some of Soundwave's messages were already written, and so the strange happening of Megatron being there hadn't affected him much in that regard.

[We have recently become aware of a rogue planet of considerable interest, given that its composition is largely pure energon.]

The room's occupants were appropriately interested by this, and so Soundwave continued, although he looked at Megatron the whole time.

[At this planet's closest point to us, it will still be outside of spacebridge range, which thereby necessitates the reconstruction of a new ship. Shockwave has identified seven nearby wreckage sites from former ships that may be salvageable, but I believe only the five closest will be reasonably accessible.]

He looked over toward Shockwave, who continued perfectly in stride.

"These ships, as well as part of this base, can be moved to form a larger, single ship via retrofits rather than deconstructing and reconstructing a new design. Considering the current decepticon forces number only 87, however, this project will require several, if not all, of the insecticon hives currently present on Earth."

A few of the vehicons seemed dismayed by that concept, but they dared not voice criticism of Shockwave, even though in truth he was reasonable enough to accept it. Soundwave continued after the moment of silence that followed.

[There will be seven teams, ideally with insecticon forces split between them. One for each of the five wreckage sites, one for the base, and one for connection points between them. Ideally each ship will need to be assessed, moved closer to us if possible, and rebuilt while plans are drafted about how to connect them all together.]

He looked toward one silver vehicon with red markings on his head and chest, who obviously grew increasingly nervous upon meeting Soundwave's silent stare.

[You will be in charge of the team assigned to the closest shipwreck, that of the former decepticon  _ Triad _ . Until more forces are acquired, your team will include all current decepticons not specifically assigned to another project. Your team should ideally include subgroups for salvage, reconstruction, and mining, but you may lead those as you see fit. Do you accept this task, or do you have a recommendation for another who may be more fitting to this position?]

"Ahhh... no sir, I would be honored."

Clearly he was nervous still, but excited.

[I would like to ask Ratchet to lead the effort concerned with deciding how the ships will be connected together.]

Ratchet responded almost immediately, his voice almost sounding insulted.

"Me?"

[Do you know who else may be more qualified?]

"Uhh... You? Shockwave? Starscream, for all I care. I don't know the first thing about ship design!"

Soundwave glanced toward Shockwave, who offered his own response.

"I know little of the subject myself, and I am preoccupied with performing more analysis on the planet as well as the project as a whole. Nonetheless, I will help where I can."

[We are incredibly lacking in qualified troops,] Soundwave said silently, [but considering you managed to form the old autobot base from a foreign missile silo and a military base using foreign computers to control a groundbridge, you seem experienced in the art of improvisation.]

Ratchet still seemed annoyed, as was usually the case, but he probably took that as a compliment, and so he quieted down. Soundwave looked back toward the red and silver vehicon.

[What is your designation?]

"TL664."

[If you are accepting this position, you deserve a true name.]

"Really?"

This had seemed to electrify the room, as gaining a name was a honor among them long suspended due mainly to the war taking their attention. Still, it seemed unfitting for Soundwave to make that call, and his gaze turned back toward Megatron. The gladiator, noticing that the room's attention quickly turned to him, spoke in a somewhat quiet voice.

"It has been too long since we last held that tradition."

The room went silent for a few moments, and Shockwave finally spoke again.

"The Triad was a cargo vessel. It may still possess useful materials, but I nonetheless advise caution when the site is surveyed. That is all we require at the moment."

"That's it?" one other vehicon asked. He seemed to recoil as Shockwave instead looked at him.

"A proper survey must be the first step."

"Right."

Even despite the short time it had lasted, the meeting had not much more to cover, so it didn't drag on for much longer before the room's occupants started leaving one by one, almost in the same order they had arrived. However, Soundwave, Shockwave, and Megatron all remained, glancing at each other with questioning looks until the room finally emptied. Shockwave was the first to speak, knowing that he spoke for Soundwave as well.

"May I ask what compelled you to join us here, my liege?"

Megatron's eyes remained dull and empty, closer to the color of rust than to his usual crimson. As he looked back toward the scientist, however, he gained a hint of agitation in his expression, but his aura remained neutral. Although, upon second thought, it rather seemed he  _ had _ no aura.

"You only question me when I try to help you?"

"Behavioural changes such as these are usually not made in a vacuum. We would merely like to know what changed, if anything."

Megatron seemed to grow more irritated, only for it to then be swept under a wave of something else, prompting him to slam one fist onto the table as he clutched at his head with the other.

"It  _ hasn't _ gotten better. Half the time, I'm not sure what world I'm living in. I only thought by going back to what I used to do, I would go back to what I used to be."

Soundwave struggled to remain as he was, despite the pity he felt inside. Megatron  _ was _ probably the only person he truly cared about, after all. But this wasn't the time. Shockwave spoke for him yet again.

"That is logical. We only wish to help you."

"You shouldn't be so dependent on me. I won't be around forever."

Soundwave could have sworn he felt a trace of his own pity radiate from the scientist. There was a short moment of silence, and Megatron turned away. Finally Soundwave responded.

[You as a person may not be immortal, but as an inspiration you will always be.]

Shockwave seemed to scan the room for a moment, glancing between the other two occupants, before deciding it was better off without him, and as such he got up and quietly left. Even though it was illogical, he knew he was not well trusted by most.

Soundwave remained motionless for some time, awkwardly glancing at Megatron, before finally moving over toward him and placing a hand on the back of the gladiator's neck. There were no words spoken as Soundwave began tracing his thin fingers across the seams in Megatron's armor, but they needed no words, for there was nothing to say. It had all been said before. Megatron let out a quiet sigh as he closed his eyes. There was always something about the way Soundwave pressed gently into the mesh beneath his armor that seemed hypnotizing. Whatever thoughts antagonized him, whatever rage might have consumed his consciousness, became secondary in a mere instant. And given the way his own mind sought to tear him away from reality, the soothing distraction was welcome. Of course, Soundwave already knew all of this. That had been the point.


	3. Catharsis

Time seemed to pass by in the proverbial blink of an eye following that initial meeting, given that, between salvaging wrecks and locating insecticons, there was suddenly a lot to be doing. Soundwave remained the primary leader of it all, but just as Megatron had started to return to his former position, so too did Starscream. The seeker was still unusually quiet for his reputation, but he was at least occasionally helpful.

On the other hand, the three insecticon hives they soon acquired were more useful than he ever would have thought. They looked more toward Megatron than to him, but they still understood the hierarchy they fell into. Shockwave had been right, as he always was. The value of the insecticons was in their unwavering loyalty and brute strength. The other vehicons had never seemed to get along well with them, but both had enough work to be doing that they had no time to quarrel.

Shockwave had also been right about the shipwrecks around them. They were mostly intact, and small enough to be moved once repaired somewhat. While the scientist had continued providing advice about reconstruction efforts, he mostly remained isolated in his lab, quiet even for him. He had mentioned something about calculating the optimal launch time, but had gone completely silent outside of that. Now two of the ships were ready to be moved, and he was nowhere to be found.

Soundwave stepped into the lab, glancing around at the various pieces of equipment scattered about. It was unusual for Shockwave to leave anything disorganized unless it was immediately in his use, and he wasn't anywhere to be found. Soundwave wandered across the room, being careful not to touch anything, when the door finally opened and Shockwave walked in. He seemed to pause momentarily upon seeing someone else in his domain, but given that it was only Soundwave, he stepped over to the computer console and began searching through things.

"Yes?" he said, not even looking at the other decepticon.

[Is your continued avoidance of me something I provoked?]

The scientist froze for a moment, remembering the context in which he had first asked the same thing. Nonetheless, his hesitation soon washed away, and he returned to his work.

"I've been concerning myself with the logistics of this project. I have not wished to demoralize you any more than is necessary."

[Some amount is necessary?]

Their interactions had grown somewhat strained since the first meeting. Soundwave, at least, had expected something to shift, but nothing really had. He had been a fool to think Shockwave would ever truly take interest in him.

The scientist briefly glanced at him as he stepped back over to the main table in the center of the room and began putting things away.

"You would be highly concerned if everything went according to plan, would you not?"

[That's probably true.]

"And _some_ one must remind the decepticons of their limitations."

[Or?]

"Reality will do so, in an unpleasant manner."

Despite common knowledge, Shockwave _did_ have a sense of humor, although it was often subtle and _very_ odd.

"What did you need?"

Soundwave merely watched for a moment as the scientist spent at least twenty seconds merely adjusting the position of a centrifuge so that it rested exactly in the center of the table, its base lined up with the table's edges. After a moment he finally let go of it, then looked at Soundwave at the other side of the table, tilting his head slightly, trying to ask his question again without sounding overbearing. Soundwave, on the other hand, stared back at the centrifuge, reaching out a second later to move it out of place, smiling under his visor. He radiated amusement, but he could tell just by looking at Shockwave that he was _not_ amused, and finally the scientist reached out to move it back. Soundwave grabbed his arm, and for a brief moment he sensed real concern from the other decepticon. Shockwave curled his hand into a fist, but he remained relaxed, and he did not move.

"... What is the purpose of this?"

[Your perfectionism is amusing.]

Shockwave looked down at his wrist, still in Soundwave's grasp, and pulled slightly. Soundwave, rather than letting go, merely moved around the table to step toward the other figure. The room was silent again, and gradually he felt increasingly awkward, until finally he let go.

[Sorry.]

"... Hm."

It sounded more curious than anything else. The scientist stepped past him to once again move the centrifuge into its proper place, but moved back to where he had been standing before.

"You don't truly need anything from me, do you?"

[Why else would I be here?]

"You have been concerned about my recent isolation?"

[So what if I am?]

"Then I am... about as flattered as I am capable of being."

[That's possible?]

"That capability is very limited."

Soundwave looked away for a moment, then back up at Shockwave. They _were_ standing awkwardly close together, but that was initially his doing, and he didn't want to be the one to back down first.

[The two closest ships are ready to be moved.]

Shockwave continued to stare at him, and given the fact that his aura was practically nonexistent, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"I have already reviewed the process and given approval for it."

Soundwave looked away again. This was the only official reason he'd shown up here, and now it seemed it was an invalid one. The scientist refused to move, and it quickly became somewhat stifling. After a moment, however, his aura shifted to a warmer state, and Soundwave looked back at him as he spoke.

"You need no reason to come to the lab. It is as much your space as mine."

The blue figure stared at him, suddenly realizing how inviting his aura was. He glanced around, trying to shift his attention elsewhere, and Shockwave finally spoke again.

"Your confusion as to the intent of my actions toward you is equally applicable to yours in this current scenario."

Soundwave stared at the floor, _still_ standing oddly close to the scientist.

[I don't want to complicate anything.]

"You already have. I believe you place more weight on the nature of these interactions than you should. I am fine with this. If you wish for us to... venture beyond the bounds of a professional relationship... then I will reciprocate."

[So again, what are you suggesting?]

He felt Shockwave's hand brush against his own arm, and after reflexively retracting it, he let his arm relax again, and Shockwave seemed to hold onto his wrist ever so gently as he spoke.

"Catharsis."

Soundwave merely stared, somewhat stunned by the very concept of the scientist instigating any type of physical contact in this context.

[That's what you're calling this?]

"Your motives have become somewhat apparent. And I appreciate... experiments..."

That seemed more like him.

Soundwave continued to look away from the void of Shockwave's unchanging eye as he moved his hand slightly to let his fingers intertwine with Shockwave's. He still felt horribly awkward, but at the very least, he sensed a trace of the same from the scientist. But Shockwave was right, he  _ had  _ wanted this for some time. The question was why he had, although now it was irrelevant, given the way they so hesitantly drew closer together. Soundwave had started to brush his other hand across Shockwave's perfect armor, smooth as glass and untouched by the wear of battle, when the scientist, in turn, rested his hand on the side of Soundwave's neck, drifting slightly to reach for the latches on his visor. Almost immediately, Soundwave grabbed his wrist in response, moving it away.

[You already know what I look like.]

That much was true, but the last time Shockwave had actually seen his face was long before the war had even begun.

They stood like this for some time, awkwardly keeping some minute distance between them, even as their auras mingled and they seemed to refuse to let go of each other. Finally, Shockwave's gun arm wrapped around Soundwave, and with barely any pressure, pulled them together. And in that moment, their combined hesitation began to wane, given that something just felt  _ right _ about this. It wasn't clear why, or how, exactly, they ended up here, but those questions no longer burned as prominently as did the question of why they had  _ not _ done this before. Soon the doors were locked, and Soundwave found himself pinning a surprisingly submissive Shockwave against the nearby counter, succumbing to his inviting aura.

He still had to avoid thinking about what exactly was happening, because there was still a part of him that was confused, terrified about the possibility that this might forever ruin his interactions with the scientist. Yet, Shockwave had been awfully insightful in calling this catharsis, since it seemed as though this had been inevitable; that  _ both _ of them had just been waiting for this opportunity to arise. Still, they had known each other for ages, and in that time neither one had so much as hinted at the possibility of any type of relationship beyond that of professional acquaintances. So why now? Why had it taken so long?

This was the question Soundwave continued to ask himself as he stood at the main computer console later that day. What exactly had just happened?

"Commander... Soundwave..."

He turned to face the silver and red vehicon he had seen before. That title still seemed unfitting to him, but he wasn't the one who'd chosen it. The vehicon stood rigid suddenly, holding his hands behind him.

"We've begun moving the Triad. It should take several hours for it to get here, but it's on track now."

[Good, thank you.]

The vehicon walked off, and Soundwave glanced around the room. Frequently he became so lost in his work that being distracted from it felt like waking up to a different world. But now, this world was strange.

He looked over at Starscream, speaking to another vehicon. Upon noticing his glance, the seeker sauntered over to him. He had not quite returned to his former self, but he had definitely begun. Soundwave looked back at his console screen, trying to ignore the way the seeker leaned against it.

"So."

Starscream seemed to have an inexorable need to always be engaged in some sort of conversation. Maybe it was to him as research was to Shockwave. The blue decepticon did hear him, but he didn't respond yet. Starscream looked at his screen, trying to see what he was doing.

"Requisitions?"

Soundwave turned his head to look at him, and the seeker backed away slightly with an annoyed growl.

"You're not a very good leader."

Soundwave continued to stare silently at him, knowing Starscream could tell what he was thinking.

"Okay, fine, that's not entirely true. But I'm better."

[If you would like to take command, by all means, do so.]

Starscream attained a confused look for a moment as he backed away.

"You... actually want me to lead the decepticons?"

[No. But I hate this position, and you are better suited to it.]

The seeker's aura radiated annoyance for a brief moment as he responded.

"I just get the sense that as soon as I take over, Megatron will feel normal enough to want to tear me to pieces."

[Then please do so.]

Starscream crossed his arms as he rested his weight on one leg, leaning back against the wall the computer jutted out from. Soundwave did not truly hate the seeker, but it had been habitual to put him down on occasion, if only to curb his rampant narcissism. With too much approval, he seemed to almost grow intoxicated from confidence, and attempt to undertake something he was definitely not suited for. But considering what the seeker had been through, it seemed unfair to use his normal tone, and so Soundwave sent another message a moment later.

[I mean to say that I wish for Megatron to recover.]

"Sure."

[I would be relieved if you would take command.]

Starscream looked away all of a sudden, going silent when he normally would be preparing an acceptance speech or something. Soundwave looked at him, sensing some degree of nervousness from him. The seeker glanced at him, seeming to try and scan what he was thinking again, and so Soundwave responded again.

[I will support you in any way I can.]

Red eyes continued to stare at him for a moment before finally looking away.

"... Fine. But only because it doesn't mean anything."

[That's arguably untrue.]

"This whole building ships to fly to an energon planet thing is still going to happen regardless of who's in command."

[But you represent more to the decepticons than that.]

"Pff."

[They deserve a better leader than me.]

Soundwave stepped away, leaving the seeker to ponder his words. While he did need the computer he had been working at, he did not want to make Starscream believe he was simply trying to be manipulative. That was more immediately important than requisition reports.

As such, he wandered back toward the laboratory, although voices from it piqued his interest even before he could hear what was being said. As he stepped into the room, he noticed Ratchet gazing up at Shockwave, seemingly trying to appear intimidating as he spoke.

"I don't know what kind of evil plot you're trying to fulfill, but you have no need for this otherwise!"

Shockwave glanced at Soundwave as he entered, and Ratchet soon turned to face him as well, speaking before either of the other two could interject.

"What kind of reason do you have to be developing a formula for synthetic dark energon? You plan to turn all the remaining autobots into mindless zombies? Why wasn't I informed of this?"

Soundwave glanced back up at Shockwave as he replayed a quote from him.

["That depends on if it possesses any side effects. If not, it may be possible to revive the Nemesis."]

Ratchet seemed puzzled by this, considering this was probably what Shockwave had already said before. Soundwave looked up at the purple form, who promptly responded.

"We intended no deception. This project merely fell by the wayside in the wake of more pressing concerns."

Ratchet turned to face the other scientist again, his aura flaring up with rage.

"You 'intended no deception'? Just how stupid do you think I am?"

"On the contrary-"

Ratchet cut him off, turning back somewhat toward Soundwave, pointing accusingly toward him.

"You hid the truth from Optimus when you abducted him! I was being delusional to ever trust you, wasn't I?"

[This is different,] Soundwave said, still standing motionless before him. [Orion Pax was deceived from the beginning, because of the amnesia he suffered. You came to us willingly, and you are free to leave if you so choose.]

Ratchet continued to glare at him, seemingly trying to see through his visor.

"But you told me to come here. Why?"

[I gave you a choice. You voiced the same criticisms of the autobots that we have had, and thus I thought you might wish to part from them, as a statement.]

"That's it?"

Soundwave could only stare, confused as to what that was supposed to mean. Ratchet took a step toward him, again seemingly to appear threatening, but he did not react.

"Really? You just let me in, give me access to most everything you have on record, and ask me to lead teams of your troops? No threats, no force, because of some rogue planet out there we barely know about?"

Ratchet took another step toward Soundwave, but the blue decepticon refused to move. He could tell that Shockwave was growing uneasy about the threatening tone the autobot was taking, but he nonetheless let Soundwave respond.

[Wasn't it you who found it pointless to be attacking the decepticons now? Didn't you find the continuing conflict unnecessary in the first place?]

"What are you saying?"

[We can accept that the war is over.]

"But Megatron is still alive, and now you're trying to build another ship, with hordes of insecticons!"

Ratchet seemed to lunge forward toward Soundwave, but only for a split second, given that Shockwave grabbed his shoulder and pulled him backward, throwing him to the ground. The autobot clamored to his feet, looking both puzzled and offended. Soundwave still didn't move. He understood the suspicion, but at the same time, it was sad to see. He really had put the past war behind him, or at least he would like to have thought so, but so many years of bitter rivalries were difficult to just brush aside. Shockwave spoke, his voice almost more whisper than speech.

"I... apologize."

Ratchet looked back at him, hiding his aura surprisingly well.

"And that's not helping. None of this feels right. You're not supposed to apologize for anything. You're supposed to be sparkless, the kind of unfeeling monster that creates military bioweapons."

He turned to Soundwave as he continued.

"And you. Primus, you're supposed to be more terrifying than Megatron. How is it that you can ask me to come here and help you build ships!?"

Soundwave stayed silent, and Shockwave spoke in his stead.

"I... don't follow."

"What is it you _really_ want from me?"

The purple figure seemed to glance back at Soundwave, and so he replayed a brief recording of Megatron.

["Survival."]

Ratchet continued to glare, but the other two remained silent. As the tension in the room grew awkward, Shockwave finally turned away, going back to whatever it was he had been working on. Ratchet let out an annoyed groan, or something to that end, and started to walk out of the room when Soundwave sent a silent message.

[And what is it that you want from us?]

"I... I don't know, it's just that the only time any of you have been nice to any autobot is when you're being deceptive."

Soundwave glanced at the autobot, lost in thought for a moment. It was a strange situation all of them found themselves in, after all. Ratchet, having not received an answer, seemed to mutter something unintelligible to himself as he walked out finally. The silent figure turned to look at Shockwave instead.

[By the way, Starscream agreed to take command.]

The scientist turned his head slightly, but looked back at his work after a second.

"I cannot say I am enthused. But if it is to your benefit, I can tolerate him."

[You'd do that for me?]

Shockwave looked at him, hopefully knowing he'd been sarcastic.

"There are a variety of possible responses to that, but I am unsure of which would be interpreted correctly. So I will only say this: I do expect compensation."

[In what form?]

"No."

Suddenly the room turned painfully awkward, considering what they had done just hours earlier, and so with only a brief nod, Soundwave walked back out of the lab.

 

For some time he meandered around the compound, watching the insecticons as they worked, gazing at the vehicons even though some were inactive, and merely observing the workings of the place. He had mostly commanded these people from the solitude of the lab, so he actually didn't see his orders being carried out very often. Finally, however, he retreated to his meager quarters, nestled between energon pumps and the energon processing machinery. The noise wasn't as smooth as the engines of the Nemesis, but it was good enough.

Soundwave stepped into the room, glancing over at the makeshift computer terminal he'd built, almost sighing. The device was functional, but very imperfect; so much so that it practically begged to be taken apart and rebuilt correctly, just to satisfy some semblance of permanence.

That machine irked him every time he looked at it. But, his skills in computer repair were much more efficiently utilized elsewhere, so the shoddy device remained there, barely even held together as its components rested on the cluttered desk, loosely connected by wires.

He sat down on the small bed in the small room, pulling up recent reports and maintenance logs on his visor. This plan of theirs might have been bizarrely sudden and unrealistic, but at least everything felt right again. Maybe that was why Megatron and Starscream were becoming more invested in it.

One log stood out from the list he gazed at, mainly because it was written by Shockwave, and Soundwave was its only other recipient. He'd gazed at some of Shockwave's logs before, but they were often written with the intention of being utterly meaningless to anyone but himself.

Soundwave laid back as he began reading the file in question.

 

"Log 3706A: Synthetic Dark Energon Experiments

[Security whitelist, Shockwave, Soundwave, Megatron]

(Note: 66705 is absent from records. Rewrote what I remember to 857A4.)

Purpose: Develop a renewable substance with the effects of dark energon/synthesize natural dark energon

Challenges: determine all effects of natural dark energon, methods of neural interaction, reanimation effects

Known: Dark energon is a pseudo-isotope. Instability can annex muon neutrinos. Uncertain how it remains radioactive.

The formula for synthetic energon was lost long before I was aware it had ever existed, because it was wholly unnecessary at the time. As such, I failed to fully realize its potential, and was shamefully unprepared when the need of its use became more immediate.

The original formula contains prerequisite information about quantum physics necessary to comprehend the process, but the actual method of generating the substance is, comparatively, very simple.

Considering dark energon is much more rare than even red energon, it is logical to devise a method for generating both, although the first is much more useful."

 

Soundwave looked away for a moment, snapping back into the present, as it were. Why had he been given access to this? He scrolled through the text, finally coming to one paragraph where he spotted his name.

 

27: Revelations about the exoplanet (4775C) have stolen my attention recently, but I have returned now to this project. Soundwave has asked about it, but I believe he is concerned more with me than with my work.

28: Running tests to determine all physical properties of dark energon. Trials will take time. Soundwave is staring at me. In the meantime, I will move on.

29: Trials continue.

30: Trials continue. Soundwave is being distracting, which is ironic because his distractions are due to him finding me distracting. If he should find my courtesy indicative of romantic interest, he is mistaken with regard to how little I care.

31: Perhaps I should not have phrased it that way. While I wait for the last of my trials to conclude, I am forced to review the situation I find myself in with Soundwave. I can only assume I will at some point decide to add him to the security whitelist, so I must write under the assumption that he will read it. Matters of such interest are of little importance to me, because they are of no consequence. He does not seem to understand this, and instead believes I am dismissive of him. In truth, I am only dismissive of any related emotions. Whatever he wishes us to do is of no importance, and thereby acceptable.

32: Reviewing trial data, developing protocol for moving Triad (D5477).

33: I have been very distracted today. I forgot to move sample 3 to quarantine after the last test, so I must assume it is contaminated and restart, as much as I will despise doing so. Damn you, Soundwave.

 

That must have been today.

With merely a thought, Soundwave's visor shut off, and he gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes. As his mind started to succumb to sleep, however, his thoughts returned, of course, to Shockwave. Reading his logs did somewhat clarify his less than obvious intentions, but the whole thing was still bizarre.

It would probably be best to forget about it for now.


	4. Entropy

As the wreckage of the Triad was slowly moved to the central compound, many of the troops who had worked to dig it out of the ground in the first place rested idly, hovering about the compound's upper floors, waiting for the crawling ship to arrive. Because most of these workers were insecticons, Starscream seemed incredibly wary at all times, tending to stay around Soundwave clearly out of nervousness. It seemed, in some way, that he accepted his lack of combat prowess, knowing well the insecticons respected brute strength above all else. They were a strange bunch.

But it was as Soundwave sorted through new data that he overheard a conversation among the insects. They had an odd way of speaking, like some difficult dialect based around their complex mouthparts, but it was intelligible; albeit only when you consciously listened.

There were five of the brutes on the other side of the room, muttering to themselves as they drank energon rations. A few of them emitted idle clicking sounds as the other spoke.

"- but I never believed Sanctum was real."

"It was foretold by the last Oracle."

"My hive never interacted with the Oracle."

"You denounce him?"

"We did not know he truly existed. We heard only legends."

The group went silent for a moment as they drank their energon in sync. A third insecticon began speaking.

"But there has been no Oracle for centuries..."

"Our hive was told by the last one that her resurrection would be the one to find Sanctum."

"Are you saying Shockwave is the new Oracle? He cannot be!"

"But if Sanctum is real, and he will bring us there, who else would it be?"

Soundwave turned to face them, gazing at the group. He'd never heard such rumors, or really any stories from insecticons. One of them turned to look at him, and the others soon followed, staring at him with a clicking purr. Finally Soundwave messaged all of them.

[To what are you referring?]

When the insecticons responded, they did so with a strange shift in dialect, almost, and spoke more slowly. It was easier to understand, but it also felt condescending somehow.

"Countless generations of insecticons have had an Oracle. One who can see beyond time. He gives us guidance."

The others continued in stride.

"The Oracle's spark is said to be immortal. It returns to the allspark, only to come back intact to be resurrected in another body. The last true Oracle was discovered to be the queen of the Synach hive. By then, all of her children shared a piece of her spark, and so all of them held only a piece of the Oracle's wisdom."

"The only thing her children were able to foretell was that the next insecticon to possess all of the Oracle's spark would bring us to Sanctum."

"Sanctum is a place resurrected from legends. It is a world composed of energon, with life everlasting."

Soundwave perked up slightly, and one of the insecticons nodded at him before speaking again.

"For centuries we tried to find all those who held pieces of the Oracle's spark, and kill them so it could be restored, but as those children bore their own children, it became impossible to know who held fractions of that spark and who did not. They did not see through time the way the true Oracles did."

"There has not been an Oracle for ages, long since the war began. Some hives even began to dismiss it as legend."

Soundwave looked back at one of the other insecticons, trying to tell them apart.

[What does this have to do with Shockwave?]

"If Shockwave brings us to Sanctum, that must mean he holds the spark of the Oracle."

[And what does that mean?]

The bugs exchanged glances with each other for a moment, and one took another drink of energon.

"In the past, the Oracle has led all insecticons, united all hives. But we do not know if it is possible for that spark to inhabit one of your kind."

Soundwave looked away for a moment, trying to process everything he'd just heard. He didn't know the insecticons had anything in the way of legends, let alone one that possibly made Shockwave a magical figure to them to worship. What was stranger, of course, was that they allegedly had stories of an energon world already.

The air went silent, and the insecticons returned after a moment to drinking their energon. Soundwave strode off, heading toward an elevator to reach the upper levels. He rarely went up to the surface of their dead planet, but this time there was something to witness.

As the doors opened some time later to a fractured balcony on an old tower near the compound, Soundwave stared out at the rusted horizon, rubble and ashes as far as he could see. It was times like this that he wished he could kill Ratchet, but logic quickly overtook his emotions, and thus, he never did. Nearer to the tower, however, was a spiked pile of rubble surrounded by vehicons and insecticons; the wreck of the Triad. It moved ever so slowly, having been placed upon a massive wheeled platform. It was driven by pretty much every piece of equipment they had with a motor. A few mining drills from the Nemesis, several makeshift cargo carriers, and even some retrofitted energon pumps all pulled on enormous steel cables looped through pulleys to, slowly but effectively, move the entire wreckage site to them. This was the closest one to them, and it had still taken over ten hours for it to get to where it was. If this plan was going to work, they needed a lot more power before trying to move the others.

From his vantage point, Soundwave could clearly see the red and silver vehicon from before, the one tasked with organizing the work on the Triad. He had certainly done well, and he deserved a name, if only to make referring to him easier, but he had no idea where to start. He had been a part of choosing names for many decepticons, but most of them were dead now, so was it acceptable to use a name previously taken by a late mech? The vehicon's coloring had always reminded Soundwave of one named Skyfire, but part of him got the sense that autobots had been named that in the past as well. So then it came down to what would best befit an otherwise regular vehicon who'd proved himself worthy of command. It was something to think about.

He turned and retreated back into the base, back to the place where Cybertron's scars were out of his mind, and he instead went to find Megatron.

The gladiator tended not to gaze upon Cybertron's surface anymore for the same reason Soundwave did. But when he found Megatron, he, too, had been watching the movement outside, through a very dusty but intact window. Soundwave sent a ping, since his footsteps tended to be silent, and he thus startled people easily. Megatron looked back at him for a moment, acknowledging his presence.

His eyes looked brighter than usual, but in a good way.

Megatron stepped to one side of the window, leaving a space for Soundwave. He rested his weight on one arm he held against the wall above the window, and looked over again as Soundwave walked up to him.

"Progress is going nicely, I see."

[I came here from the upper balcony, so I was just watching this.]

"Well... at present, it's the only thing to watch."

They stood in silence for some time, staring outside, until Soundwave messaged him again.

[You seem better.]

Megatron let out a quiet but annoyed sigh, his aura turning somewhat defensive.

"This is the only reason you ever speak to me now? To try and assess how 'well' I'm doing? I only said two sentences to you, anyway, how could you possibly know what I feel?"

[I've known you for a long enough time to be able to tell things like that.]

"... That is true."

[I just don't want you to suffer.]

"I know. But it's all so patronizing."

Soundwave looked over at him, somewhat surprised at the accusation. Megatron still stared outside for a moment, but gradually his eyes looked back toward Soundwave, until he finally turned his head.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that to you."

[Yes you did.]

Megatron went silent for a minute, his eyes staring into nothing as he moved his jaw slightly in pensive silence. Finally he turned his head to look toward Soundwave, although his eyes looked away.

"You care about me, and I appreciate that. But to be fussed over like some sick child when there's nothing you can really do for me..."

[How do you think I feel knowing I can't do anything?]

Megatron gained just a hint of a smile before looking back toward the window.

"You care too much about me for your own good."

[If I don't take care of you, who will?]

The smile on the gladiator's face widened slightly.

"Certainly not Starscream."

[You really do seem better, though.]

"And I feel better. I'm just sick of being reminded of it."

[Ratchet will be less happy to hear that than Starscream.]

Megatron looked around for a moment, as if trying to recall something.

"Right, I keep forgetting he's here. Can I ask you something? Why did you bring him here?"

Soundwave looked out the window for a moment, thinking of how to phrase his response.

[He helped me escape from the Shadowzone. Before he knew of my presence, I heard him talking to the other autobots. He was charged by the council for the death of Cybertron, since Optimus wasn't there.]

"Hardly fitting to pin that on Ratchet."

[Yes. They wanted to basically keep him in exile, have him search for and destroy any remaining decepticons.]

Soundwave instead started replaying audio from the initial event.

["If they're going to punish me for a crime I didn't commit, then I'm not going to live under their rule."

"You're not really going to bail on us, are you?"

"I sided with Optimus  _ and _ Megatron before the war because the Council was mistreating its citizens. I'm  _ not _ about to have half of my life go to waste by settling with the exact kind of society we tried to change in the first place!"]

Megatron gazed at him, processing Ratchet's words as Soundwave responded.

[I figured if we could set the war aside, he would be willing to help us, if only to make a statement to the autobots.]

"He could just as easily have informed the autobots of our location."

[Because I was genuinely offering help, I didn't think it likely that he would do something like that.]

"And fortunately, you were right. He is an interesting one."

[I think he only accepted my help because he thought you were dead.]

The two stood in silence for a moment, staring out the window, until Megatron finally spoke again.

"Despite what I've said recently... I'm... glad you brought me here."

[I know.]

"Heh. I was trying to be sentimental and you ruined it."

[I didn't mean to.]

Soundwave looked over as Megatron moved to embrace him, one hand holding the back of his head. He closed his eyes as he let it rest against Megatron's chest, and the room went silent again.

The warmth he felt from the gladiator's aura was a very rare occurrence, but nonetheless a powerful one. This was what Soundwave lived for. He lived for Megatron, fighting for him, working tirelessly for him, killing for him, and it was only in times like these, where he rested in his embrace, that Soundwave ever knew for certain that Megatron cared about him beyond the simple fact of his rank. Of course, his expressions of love were usually quiet and subtle, but that was always to be expected from a gladiator warlord.

Starscream's voice suddenly came over his comm link.

"Soundwave?"

Even Megatron let out a quiet sigh, but he didn't let go, instead letting Soundwave respond to both of them.

[Yes?]

"Get down here."

[Why?]

"Do I need to explain why? Just do it!"

Megatron finally stepped away as he responded to Starscream himself, with an almost taunting tone.

"It would do you well not to abuse your power, Starscream."

"Wha- how were you listening? Eh, nevermind. I was right, Soundwave, wasn't I?"

Megatron turned back to Soundwave, speaking only to him.

"What is he referring to?"

In response, he merely replayed another recording.

["I just get the sense that as soon as I take over, Megatron will feel normal enough to want to tear me to pieces."]

The gladiator laughed slightly.

"I've become predictable."

[Maybe.]

Soundwave finally turned to leave, and Megatron grabbed his arm, not firmly enough to stop him, but rather in such a way as to let his fingers trace across his arm as he left. Soundwave couldn't help but smile slightly behind his visor as he looked back for a moment, his hand slipping from Megatron's light grasp, and finally walked out of the room.

 

As he made his way back to the room that had become the main command center in the compound, he found himself stopped by makeshift barriers blocking entryways and vehicons surrounding the area. They parted upon noticing him, and he stepped up to find nothing notable in the room beyond, merely an unused storage room.

"Soundwave."

He turned around to find Starscream walking up to him, hands held behind him, an annoyed look present on his face. Considering he expected Soundwave to stay silent, he spoke first.

"Shockwave blocked this whole area off. He said the building might collapse."

[Where is he?]

"Somewhere in the lower floors, checking the columns."

[And you just let him go?]

"Well, it's not like anyone else here knows enough about building integrity to know what's dangerous and what's not. Besides, do you really think I could have stopped him?"

[Then why didn't he contact me?]

"He tried. I think. Something about radio signals being blocked by him being hundreds of feet underground."

The second part of that sentence had been said with an almost angry tone, typical for Starscream. Suddenly the seeker looked around him, glancing at the vehicons hovering about.

"What are you all still doing here?" he spat. "Get out of here!"

The troops began to disperse, heading toward the elevator when Soundwave heard something from below the floor, and looked toward Starscream, unable to hide a trace of panic in his aura.

[Tell everyone to stop moving.]

Starscream must have heard the sound too, given the way he looked at the spot in the floor from which it had seemed to come. Without a moment's hesitation, however, he pointed back toward the vehicons as he shouted.

_ "Wait!" _

The troops looked at him, and he stared back at the floor.

"Nobody move."

And just like that, the room went dead silent. It had even become possible to hear the sound of the energon pumps three floors above them. After a moment, however, there was a much louder sound; the sound of metal creaking under stress. It echoed below them, traveling further down the building to the unused floors before going silent. The entire room became filled with only fear as Starscream gestured back to the vehicons on the other side of the room.

"Two at a time, over to the elevator and up to the surface. No one else move."

Two of the troopers walked  _ very _ hesitantly toward the main elevator, and everyone else stared at the doors as they closed. The room went silent again, and the air started to calm slightly, at least until the same sickening sound echoed through the room again. Soundwave had sent message after message to Shockwave, trying to reach him, but there had been no response. Finally he looked toward Starscream.

[I'm going to try to contact Shockwave. Get everyone else up to the surface.]

"What!?"

Everyone stared at the seeker, given that he had broken the silence.

"Are you serious?"

[Yes.]

Starscream could only stare in shock as Soundwave walked off with slow steps, toward the access tunnel to the lower floors.

Everyone knew it was probably a bad idea to be using the elevators in the event of an imminent building collapse, but the escape stairwell had, ironically, collapsed during the war. The route Soundwave took went through a different spiral staircase down to the floors below, that had long ago been used for storage and energon processing, but were now empty. The metal beams around him groaned under the weight of the building above, but he kept moving, occasionally sending urgent pings to Shockwave. How far down could he be? How far down did this building even go?

There was another sound of metal creaking and bending, but this time something snapped. It was like the sound of a small explosion, except it was followed by rusted metal squealing under stress, rocks and concrete cracking apart, and the deafening sound of the building above him collapsing. Soundwave, in a brief moment of panic, ran toward the empty elevator shaft on the other side of the room and jumped down, considering he had not much farther to fall. Seconds passed as he fell into the darkness, barely able to brace himself before landing at the bottom. Pain shot through his legs as he stumbled out into the dusty darkness of the bottom floor, glancing up at the only light present there, namely a lantern, of sorts, that Shockwave held. The scientist, hearing the sounds above, dropped the light and ran toward Soundwave without another word, pulling him away from the elevator shaft with all his weight, just as the elevator inside it crashed to the ground.

Soundwave finally opened his eyes again, finding himself lying on the floor, wrapped in Shockwave's arms. They both looked up, finding the crushed elevator beside them on fire. Finally the scientist looked at him and spoke.

"What... are you  _ doing _ here?"

He had asked that question with genuine surprise, as panic still permeated his aura.

[You weren't responding. I was going to tell you to come to the surface.]

"Lest the building collapse?"

[Yeah.]

Shockwave let out a quiet sigh as he climbed to his feet, then held out a hand to Soundwave to pull him up as well. It was an unnecessary gesture, but a kind one nonetheless. The scientist walked toward the elevator shaft, stepping atop the crushed metal to climb into and look up at the space above. He fired a shot from his gun upward, seemingly to watch if it hit anything. After a moment, he stepped away, and several rocks and pieces of metal fell on top of the elevator.

"I doubt there's enough space there to clear three floors."

[What were you doing all the way down here?]

Shockwave suddenly turned to face him, stepping toward him abruptly enough to cause Soundwave to back away, startled.

"What were  _ you _ doing here? Instead of evacuating as everyone else should have done, you go even deeper underground and narrowly escape being crushed?"

[I told you, I came to get you.]

Shockwave's voice was laced with rage, and it was terrifying.

"I'm smarter than that. I heard the warning signs. I knew it was safer down here than up in the active levels. I was going to wait until everyone else left before escaping."

[We lost contact with you, I told you that. No one knew where you were.]

Soundwave kept his distance from the scientist, watching as he processed those words and looked away.

"I suppose that is a logical course of action. But you are very fortunate you were not injured by that fall. I would have no way of helping you down here."

Shockwave was only angry because Soundwave put himself at risk?

The silent figure looked around the room, then up at the ceiling for a moment.

[Wait a second, why was it safer down here?]

Shockwave opened a panel on his gun arm, looking at scan results.

"The main structural weaknesses were in floors 6 to 10 below ground. I believe minor seismic tremors to be the main cause of the latent instability. This was not a vertical collapse, at least not initially, but was rather due to the inward pressure of the ground around the building. From there, I can only assume it damaged other load-bearing support structures, and probably took the tower down with it. I fear this might have been triggered by the movement of the Triad. If that is the case, then all of this can be confirmed as my doing."

[Shockwave, please. You can't keep track of everything. You can't blame yourself for not expecting an unexpected event.]

Shockwave stared up at the ceiling for a moment before grabbing his lantern and lowering himself to the ground, switching off the white light and letting himself instead be lit by the orange flames of the elevator as he rested against a concrete column. Despite the nature of the circumstances, he still looked nice bathed in the flickering glow. Soundwave sat down on the floor as well, next to an adjacent column. They stayed like this for some time, staring into the flames, before Soundwave sent a message to Shockwave again.

[How long do you think we can survive down here?]

"Don't ask me things like that."

[Why?]

"Because I'll tell you the truth. And I do not wish to demoralize you any more than is necessary."

Soundwave looked back at the flames for a moment.

[Then how long do you think we'll be down here?]

"A week, possibly. We are very far underground."

Soundwave rested his head back against the column he leaned against. He couldn't stand going a full day without anything to do, let alone a week. Though, Shockwave probably couldn't either, a concept supported when the scientist muttered something a moment later.

"All of my lab equipment was probably destroyed."

[Along with my computer network.]

"Our computer network. You were not the only one to benefit from its use."

[I built it.]

"True."

Soundwave sighed, but despite his expectations, Shockwave actually seemed to notice, and looked over at him for a moment.

"... I already find myself struggling to keep my mind occupied."

[Same here.]

"I could take you apart. That would be interesting."

[No thank you.]

Silence filled the room again.

"Are you certain?"

[You don't even have any tools.]

They sat in silence, staring into the fire, at least until Soundwave remembered something.

[By the way, the insecticons seem to think you can see through time.]

"... What?"

[At least that's how I understand it. Apparently because you found the energon planet, that makes you a resurrected oracle.]

"The prediction means I have to bring them there, not just find it."

[Wait, you know about this already?]

"I am aware of those beliefs. And a few of them seem intent on worshipping me anyway. I cannot do anything about that, and if it helps us, then I cannot complain."

[I never knew insecticons had legends.]

"The insecticons have a rather interesting history. Early in the golden age, they are recorded as having been a part of, if you will, mainstream cybertronian society. At some point they split, and gradually formed their... convoluted methods of heredity and self-government."

Shockwave went quiet, looking up at the ceiling as the sound of falling debris could be heard. Soundwave merely continued to stare at him, watching the way the light refracted through the lens in his eye.

[Were you going to continue?]

"I wasn't intending to."

Shockwave looked at him, but spoke again after a moment.

"But, seeing as we are stranded down here, and have little to do..."

And so, Shockwave continued on insecticon history, listing their various traits and how they developed, from the oddities of their speech to how their hives are organized. And Soundwave listened, as he always did, even as the flames on the elevator died down, leaving the room lit instead by the small lantern Shockwave had brought with him. They were not sitting very close to one another, but given the soft, quiet way the scientist spoke in the otherwise silent room, it sounded like they were only inches apart. And, for some reason, that was soothing. Soundwave had never paid quite this much attention to the minutia of Shockwave's voice before. Now that he did, it sounded warm somehow, like his voice exemplified the eternal calm he always seemed to show.

After a time, however, Shockwave seemed to grow tired of speaking, and thus went silent again. The soft lights across his and Soundwave's bodies both glowed the same color purple, and were strangely bright in contrast to the darkness around them. Finally Soundwave took a silent breath before standing up, eliciting Shockwave's attention.

"Where are you going?"

Soundwave only moved the short distance to the column Shockwave rested against before lowering himself to the ground again beside him. The scientist looked at him, his aura conveying something of puzzlement. Soundwave said nothing, of course. He had no idea why he'd wanted to do that, but part of his mind was satisfied that he finally did.

_ There, you happy? _

It was with a hint of a smile that he'd asked himself that question.

He was.


	5. Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The song that helped me write this, and may fit when reading, is the Lanayru Sand Sea music from Skyward Sword.

Soundwave hadn't realized he'd fallen asleep until a familiar sound stirred him. He struggled to identify it for a moment, given that his mind begged for sleep again, but finally he forced himself to open his eyes, and he saw a groundbridge portal swirling before him.

He sat upright, not realizing he and Shockwave had both fallen asleep leaning against each other until the scientist started to fall onto him. Shockwave reflexively braced himself, however, as the red light in his eye turned on again, and he looked up at the portal. They glanced at each other only once before getting up without another word and walking through.

 

Soundwave looked around at the destination he found himself in, which didn't seem familiar at all. The walls were a different color than he remembered, there were different patterns on the floor, and everything was covered in rust. He heard Ratchet's voice a moment later, and turned to face him.

"Well, look at that."

The autobot had been speaking to Megatron, who stood on the other side of the room. Upon looking back toward Soundwave and Shockwave, the gladiator smiled slightly, mostly with his eyes.

"Thought we'd have to dig you out, didn't you?" he asked. Shockwave glanced at him, then back over at Ratchet, who finally spoke again as he shut off the groundbridge.

"This is the Triad. Apparently it crashed with a mostly functional groundbridge device. All we needed to do was supply it with power. I had the idea to bridge you out."

Megatron continued after a moment, although he cast a brief but suspicious look toward Ratchet.

"The insecticons are digging through the remnants of the base, trying to find Starscream and any other survivors."

"My Lord," Shockwave hesitantly asked, "how did you know that the bottom floor did not collapse?"

"Conjecture."

"You mean a guess?" Ratchet spat.

"It was worth a try, and it turned out to be correct."

Megatron looked between Shockwave and Soundwave again.

"You were not injured, were you?"

"No," the scientist replied. "And thank you."

Megatron only responded with a brief nod. Shockwave gazed toward the silent decepticon, staring at him almost long enough to be unnerving, before turning and walking off. The gladiator seemed to notice this, casting a strange glance toward the purple form as he left, then looking back toward Soundwave with inquisitive eyes. Soundwave, on the other hand, merely shrugged somewhat as he followed the scientist.

As he caught up with him finally, having to step over broken pipes and piles of debris occasionally in order to do so, he sent a message.

[What was that?]

"To what do you refer?"

[Even Megatron noticed you staring at me.]

Shockwave stopped, and let out a deliberate sigh, his shoulders even falling as he exhaled. He looked at the silent figure, a hint of annoyance present in his quiet aura.

"Are all my actions subject to your line of questioning now?"

Soundwave certainly hadn't expected him to get that annoyed.

[No, I didn't mean...]

Having become somewhat flustered, it took him a moment to finish his sentence.

[All I want to know is if your... overall perception of these events is positive or negative.]

"Events referring to my interactions with you?"

[Yes.]

"Positive."

Shockwave had given his response both surprisingly punctually, and whilst he turned to continue walking. As such, it took Soundwave a moment to even register.

He continued following the scientist's path again, however, and stopped beside him when they reached a hatch to the outside.

Where the small tower had once stood was now a pile of rubble, blending in perfectly with the sad remnants of Kaon around them. All that work they had put into that base was now crushed, along with, possibly, Starscream and some of their already sparse crew. Insecticons crawled about across the debris, digging through broken concrete and metal, trying to find anything salvageable. Shockwave glanced at Soundwave, although he didn't notice until Shockwave spoke.

"Can you locate Starscream?"

His visor lit up with a rudimentary map of the area around him, and several points appeared, of life signals from under the debris. He focused on that area, the image on his visor zooming into it, and after a moment, one of them returned a positive match for Starscream's signature.

He was alive, but he probably wouldn't be for very long.

Soundwave immediately sent a directive to the insecticons digging in the rubble, pointing them toward the location he'd found. Some of them looked up toward him for a second, but they nonetheless converged on the closest spot to it and began digging again.

Nothing felt real anymore. Soundwave wandered about the remains of the Triad, searching for anything to salvage, trying to figure out how he'd rebuild the computer network again. But his mind refused to accept anything as real, instead insisting that he was still asleep in his quarters, or resting next to Shockwave. And, before he knew it, he heard Megatron walk past him. He didn't even register it as unusual for several moments, until he remembered the quiet commotion that had accompanied the sound. He stepped out into the hallway, finding Shockwave walking ahead of the gladiator, seeming to search in each room for something. Megatron noticed him, and turned around to show him what he had been carrying in his arms.

Barely recognizable and hanging limp from his arms was Starscream, covered in dust and energon, his whole body riddled with dents and abrasions. Part of his left leg looked like it had almost been sheared off, given the way the lower half was only still connected by frayed tubing and sparking wires.

Megatron looked as emotionless as ever as he stared at Soundwave, but somewhere in his eyes was a seed of sympathy. In some dark, obscure corner of his spark he must have cared about Starscream, even if it was only as rudimentary a concern as not wanting him to die.

Shockwave continued to scramble, it seemed, to find some place or some materials he could use to help the seeker, but everything he'd previously had was now gone, and the Triad had long since been stripped of energon after the crash. Finally he spoke out one word, prompting the other two to follow him into the room he occupied.

"Here."

Soundwave watched as the scientist stepped up to the center table, and, with a single sweep of his gun arm, cleared the entire surface of all the various objects that had rested on it. Megatron set the seeker on the table much more gently than one would have expected, and stepped back to watch silently as Shockwave again struggled to find anything he could use. The purple form scanned Starscream momentarily, looking at the results on his arm panel and letting out an annoyed groan as he finally just shifted his other arm to a small laser and began cutting through pieces of the seeker's armor.

"I will need energon soon, but I have no choice but to begin my work now. Where is Ratchet?"

Megatron spoke in response, clearly wanting to give Shockwave ample space.

"Trying to attend to the other injured troops. What do you need?"

"I will consult with him on that."

Soundwave and Megatron stared for a while as Shockwave worked, disassembling pieces of Starscream's chest and fusing torn energon lines, all by merely improvising with whatever tools his arm could transform into. The scientist looked back at them, as if asking what they were still doing there, and they finally backed away, leaving him to the silent solitude of his work.

 

Such was the recovery after the collapse; lengthy and tedious. The decepticons had lost everything they once had between the loss of the Nemesis and the collapse of their base. As such, doing anything was made far more difficult than it should have been, given that the lack of resources made them scavengers on a empty world. Ratchet and Shockwave struggled to properly care for the small group of injured mechs that had been pulled from the rubble, Megatron struggled to keep the decepticons organized in any meaningful manner without the meticulously organized computer database, and Soundwave struggled to even begin rebuilding the computer network. The goal of constructing a usable ship by their launch window had become peripheral to the new goal of merely existing off of the land.

In time, however, a small stockpile of resources and energon had been amassed from the wreckage, and so it seemed that the decepticons would not be starting entirely from scratch. But rations were still small, and thus the remnants of the uprising that had started from slaves once again found themselves mining just to sustain themselves.

Weeks had passed in empty silence, and Starscream had never awakened. He was still alive, a phenomenon described as a fortunate coincidence by Shockwave, but never once did he rise to even a fleeting moment of consciousness. Having been repaired to all other forms of functionality, the seeker remained empty, little more than a silver ornament to a desolate ship.

And the Triad did remain desolate. Although it had become the new base, there was nothing to fill it with, and the halls remained stained with ages of rust.

 

This was all that Soundwave could think about as he rested mostly submerged in the oil spring he had gone to before. He was back to where he had been just three months ago, with no plan, no goal other than survival, and no resources.

Just as had happened the first time he came to the spring, he heard Shockwave approach suddenly, but this time the scientist had no questions as to why he was here, and instead took his place beside Soundwave all in silence. Much as it had been before, they had been spending much of their time together in the lab, though it was mostly silent. Thus, they had little to discuss that was not already known to them.

But this time was different. Both decepticons suppressed their auras, which both contained only shame. Soundwave had been working tirelessly to help rebuild, an effort which had shown no progress whatsoever, but Shockwave's regret came from his inability to help Starscream. They did not need to communicate this, of course, as they both already knew.

And so, it was with a great deal of hesitation that Soundwave reached over beside him, not even looking as he took Shockwave's hand, letting his fingers interlace with the scientist's.

And it was with a similar amount of hesitation that, without looking, Shockwave gently curled his fingers around Soundwave's.


	6. Starscream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is a rarity that I write and post 2300 words in one day, but here I am. I shed quite a few tears in the process.
> 
> Entire section with Starscream fueled by Goyte - Heart's a Mess.

Soundwave opened his eyes to a barely-lit ceiling, and sat up to look at his barely-lit room. The decepticons didn't tend to waste energy on lighting their hallways, but the Triad had only one of its generators functional, and even it was at half power. As he usually did, he got up, checked what messages had been sent to him, and went off toward the lab. His head remained in something of a fog as he checked the time, realizing that he had slept for longer than he'd intended. Such was the result of his being forced to sleep in a silent room. He stepped into the new lab, barely furnished except for scattered wires and circuitry components. This was the sum of his findings from the Triad, but it was nowhere near the amount of material he'd need to begin work on anything related to the computer systems. They needed to begin salvaging the second ship.

Even though it had been ready to move, the Javelin was abandoned following the collapse of the base. Maybe it was time to switch back to their initial plan.

Soundwave hesitantly gazed across the hallway, where the miserable form of Starscream rested, shrouded by the wires and tubes that kept him alive. Maybe... it was too soon to think about anything other than recovery.

Soundwave looked back at his workspace, suddenly wishing more than anything that he had a computer terminal to enter data into, or an Iacon database to decode; anything idle to occupy his mind. And suddenly, he realized that Shockwave had not been in the lab all morning, or he would have rearranged the circuitry pieces Soundwave left scattered about. He sent a ping to the scientist, somewhat surprised to get a message in response.

[I have something to inform you about.]

[What?]

[I will be there shortly.]

Whatever it was Shockwave wanted to tell him, he wanted it to be confidential. Soundwave already felt sick merely from that message. He glanced at the counter before him, trying to think of what he could do to occupy his time while he waited for Shockwave, just so he didn't drive himself insane worrying over what he needed to be informed about.

Fortunately, Shockwave had meant what he said about being there shortly, and stepped into the room holding a medical scanner not much later. The door closed behind him, and while Soundwave was nervous enough is it was, he could tell that the scientist was as well, given his occasional trembling. He held the scanner out to Soundwave as he spoke.

"Ratchet tested the scanner on me, for some reason, but noticed this."

Soundwave glanced at the screen, having so infrequently looked at medical scanners that most of the information there was meaningless to his uninformed eyes. However, one portion stood out from the rest.

 

Subject carrier protocol: true

Subject carrier status anomalies: none

 

Purely out of surprise, he dropped the scanner and looked up at Shockwave. He only stared, his mind failing to think of anything to say, and so the scientist spoke instead.

"I was not under the impression that it was possible for me, but..."

But Shockwave was carrying. Even he, it seemed, did not want to say it. He continued after a moment.

"I... confirmed it with a different test. But I have no intention of keeping it. I just... lack the means of safely addressing that at present."

Soundwave continued to stare blankly at him, finally responding.

[But you will, yes?]

"I will. You deserved to know."

From there, they both had to continue working as though the conversation had never happened. And even though Soundwave dared not mention it again, the thought stuck in his head, distracting his attention  _ constantly. _ Mainly, he continually gravitated to the first thing Shockwave had said.  _ Ratchet  _ noticed it. Not that anyone else would ever have noticed, but why did it have to be Ratchet? Oddly enough, what Soundwave needed now more than anything was an obnoxious Starscream to follow him around, laughing at his predicament. It would have made everything feel normal again.

But as he stepped into the other room again, staring down at the seeker, his mind turned dejected again. Nothing would ever feel normal again without Starscream. Sure, that was a stupid thing to say, but it felt true, for whatever that was worth.

But he noticed something on the monitor, and stared for a moment. It had been detecting more brain activity than usual. He sent a message back to Shockwave, although he didn't figure anything would happen that truly needed his attention. It was simply a logical course of action.

After a moment, though, Starscream's hand twitched. Soundwave stepped toward him, just barely grabbing his wrist when the seeker seemed to panic momentarily, barely even conscious but tearing his arm away as he seemed to cringe. Finally he relaxed again, opening his eyes and glancing toward Soundwave. A hint of a sound escaped him, but he still seemed caught in delirium as he looked around the room. Already, however, Starscream radiated only pain. Not physical pain, but rather the pain of a fractured spark. Why? Nothing had happened that would have driven him back to the nadir of his cyclical mindset. The seeker reached for one of the cables attached to him, but either by lack of coordination or weakness, his hand slipped away and his arm fell by his side.

"Why?"

Soundwave tilted his head somewhat. What was that supposed to mean? Starscream looked as though he struggled to breathe for a moment before speaking again.

"Why are... you here?"

[Coincidence.]

"Why am I here?"

[The building collapsed.]

"No, not..."

The seeker finally grabbed one of the cables stuck to him and removed it, falling back to the table as he did so, as though the simple motion had taken all his strength.

"Why... am I here again?"

[Again? This is the Triad.]

"Shut up for a second. Let me..."

Starscream moved to try and sit upright, only to fall back again. Soundwave moved toward him, lifting him up slightly so he could rest against the wall behind him. While the seeker seemed to accept the help, he promptly grabbed Soundwave's arm, shoving it away from him.

"Why... again... I end up in this... situation... so many times."

Soundwave waited silently for him to finish his thought.

"I never asked for your help."

Here we go again, Soundwave thought. Starscream had gone back to how he was after being saved from the predacons. That, and it was fairly normal by now for him to feel offended by any assistance.

[You are axiomatic to the decepticons.]

"Axiomatic? What fragging language is that from? No. You're wasting your resources."

[We've gone through this.]

"And you don't get it, do you? What have I actually  _ done  _ recently?"

[Aside from leading the decepticons?]

"Don't patronize me. That means nothing."

[You're both asking for a patronizing tone and becoming insulted by it.]

"I'm asking for you to stop saving me all the time."

Shockwave stepped into the room, and Starscream glared at him, rolling his eyes somewhat. The scientist looked instead toward Soundwave.

"Is he being resistant again?"

[As always.]

Soundwave had responded as though he were fatigued by Starscream's display, and while in a sense that were true, he also felt genuine distress radiating from him, and could not help feeling sympathy merely because he was exposed to it. Shockwave stepped toward the monitor, glancing between it and Starscream.

"You can move your fingers?"

The seeker glared at Shockwave, lifting up one hand to hold his middle finger toward him. Shockwave ignored the gesture, of course, looking back at the monitor.

"Dexterity is good. In that case, I've done all I need to do."

The scientist turned to leave, stopping outside of the doorway for a moment to look toward Soundwave. Finally he walked off again, letting the door close behind him, and Starscream spoke, holding his arms folded across his chest as he looked away.

"He has a point, why  _ are _ you still here?"

Soundwave closed his eyes as he took a silent breath. This was not going to be an easy conversation.

[What is it you want, really?]

Starscream looked blankly forward instead of off to one side, although he still refrained from looking toward Soundwave. As much as he tried, he couldn't hide the flash of dread suddenly present in his aura. His voice turned quiet, the low tones of his raspy words sounding ever so slightly distraught.

"What do you mean?"

[From me. From Megatron. From the decepticons.]

He saw Starscream's hands grip his arms slightly tighter, his eyes flickering from Soundwave's general direction back over to the other side of the room, his aura burning with stress as he desperately tried to suppress it. Soundwave moved over toward the seeker, sitting down on the same table he rested on, beside his legs, one of which still rested in a brace of sorts.

[You don't really want to die.]

Starscream turned his head away, clutching his arms with a painful looking amount of force, especially considering his fingers were basically daggers.

"I..."

[This isn't recent, is it? You want something from us.]

Starscream still managed to suffocate his aura somehow, although he still hid his face from Soundwave's gaze as he spoke softly.

"What makes you think... it's you I want something from?"

Soundwave went silent, trying to figure out what that meant. Finally the seeker's aura flared in disappointment and agony and rage, and he turned his conflicted face toward Soundwave.

"What makes you think you're the only ones disappointed in me?"

Starscream started tearing the other cables off of him, letting out some sort of scream in resignation as he did so.

"Don't you get it!?"

His face turned almost pleading as he continued, his voice crackling from the torrent of emotion.

"I know I've failed! Over and over and... over again. I know. And every time, Megatron still..."

[I do not support what he does to you.]

"Because he's beating me halfway to death for what I'm already ashamed of! You think I want to kill him to take his place!? Well... fine, some part of me does, but how can you expect me to put up with this!? I haven't done anything of real value since collecting those omega keys, and... you're still keeping me alive for some reason?"

[You have done remarkable things in the past, which reasonably means you can in the future.]

"And what meaning does the past have anymore!?"

Starscream was trembling, drowning in the emotional torment of his own aura. This was the most sincere Soundwave had ever seen him, and it was difficult to remain calm as a result.

"You have more hope for me than I do."

The room went silent for a moment, and Starscream stared off into the distance with an eerily blank stare. Finally Soundwave responded.

[So what do you need?]

"Why would you care? That's not your concern. Anything I do should be my own responsibility."

[Because we need you.]

Starscream looked over toward Soundwave, but still refused to look directly at him.

"I... I don't believe you."

Soundwave stared at him for a moment, trying to think of what to say. How could he describe why they needed Starscream? Moreso... where could his talents be utilized now? They had no need for his skills of manipulation. At most, he would probably be able to help with some of the logistical challenges, but even then, this was not the type of environment in which the seeker thrived.

He couldn't think of any specific reason why they needed Starscream, but the seeker already knew that, didn't he? That was the whole reason he'd been so bitter. To him, keeping him alive was a waste of resources; an investment with no return. He knew what he was good at, and he knew he had ceased being useful.

[Then... I need you.]

"For what, to handle your chores?"

[I have known you for almost as long as I've known Megatron.]

"And you've hated me for that entire time."

[No, Starscream, I haven't.]

The seeker began to succumb to despair again, his whole body shaking as he screamed in response.

" _ I don't want your pity! _ "

[Then what  _ do _ you want?]

"Just-!"

Starscream buried his face in his spindly hands, trying to look away from Soundwave.

"I.. don't know. Just... to earn someone's trust."

[You have mine.]

"Don't lie to me."

The seeker gazed away again, visibly destroyed. After a moment, Soundwave reached for the latches on his visor and lifted it off of his face. It was a strange gesture, yes, but Starscream, after passively glancing toward him, realized what he had done, and stared at him in silence. His expression was still empty, but it seemed he was able to see Soundwave's own distraught expression. He looked away after a minute, and returned to his quiet, somber voice.

"I'll still never hear you speak, will I?"

"Maybe."

Soundwave was definitely not used to speaking aloud, and so his usually melodic voice was somewhat hollow, sounding like a whisper when he had not meant it to. Starscream didn't even look at him.

"Why are you doing this?"

"I don't hate you, Starscream. I never have."

"You didn't answer my question."

"... I couldn't bear to watch you destroy yourself like this."

"So how is this supposed to help?"

"I don't know."

Soundwave finally placed his visor back over his face, since the lack of it almost felt unnatural. In addition, he shifted back to his silent messages as he looked away from the seeker and stood up.

[You have more value than you believe. I don't know where that value lies, or what you are capable of, but I hope you find out.]

He looked back at Starscream for a moment, finding him moving to lie on his side, facing away from him, curled up somewhat. Soundwave hesitated to leave, thinking of what else he could say, but finally he stepped out of the room and locked the door from the outside.

He'd already said more than enough.


	7. Tradeoff

Nothing was quite the same after that conversation. Starscream had not taken long to regain his strength, but he had never quite regained his sanity. Similar to how he had been upon being rescued by the decepticons initially, he went quiet, always seeming nervous, always seeming afraid. But he listened to Soundwave, and showed him a kind of reverence he rarely saw from the seeker. He was still Starscream, of course, so this reverence was fleeting and not without its snide remarks, but Soundwave could see it emerge every so often. The seeker felt indebted to him.

In time, things began to feel normal again, even if they were negative. The troops had gotten used to smaller energon rations and not having other resources, but it had become possible to manage. However, Megatron had also become used to leadership again, a fact that had greatly motivated his subordinates. And in turn, they insisted on continuing the exodus project, as it had been so aptly named by Starscream.

These events were only peripheral to Soundwave, of course, as he spent nearly all of his waking hours rebuilding the Triad's computer network. Relay by relay, terminal by terminal, his attention faded from the happenings around him to focus solely on what needed to be done. But, by his side was Shockwave. Although the scientist was an expert in many things, his mastery of the computer systems was not quite as great as Soundwave's, and so he deferred nearly all direction to him, instead working as his assistant.

Thus, all of these past events seemed foggy in Soundwave's mind as he recalled them, sitting at the conference table. The room was mostly empty, but Shockwave sat beside him, looking at something on his arm panel as Starscream walked in, gazing between the two.

"What, so..." he muttered, "do you ever get sick of each other, or no?"

Soundwave remained silent, closing his eyes as he suddenly remembered how tired he was. And after a moment, upon hearing Starscream growl in an annoyed response, he realized that Shockwave had declined to answer for him. He closed his eyes again, letting his mind relax into a state of tranquility somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, and listened as everyone else who was supposed to be there entered the room. And finally, upon hearing Megatron's voice, he opened his eyes.

"Decepticons. While there are matters to discuss regarding Project Exodus, as it seems to be called now, there is something I would like to do first. You there, approach."

He gestured to the red and silver vehicon, who stood up, moving around the edge of the table to stand before Megatron.

"Kneel."

Without a word, the vehicon lowered himself to one knee, holding his hand to his chest. Megatron held his hands behind his back as he spoke. The room became filled with a silent excitement, as everyone knew what was happening.

"You have set yourself apart from your brethren by way of your tenacity, your independence, the ability you have shown to rise to face the many setbacks that have plagued us. I meant to do this much earlier, but as we all know, there have been other concerns that took our attention."

Megatron closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. Even though it had been ages since this ceremony was last done, it had been done enough times to where everyone knew the next part of the speech. Originally it was for a decepticon's initiation, so although it sounded somewhat odd for long time members, it still held value to those like Megatron who cherished tradition.

"Do you accept the terms of servitude, to be steadfast in adversity and fearless in demise?"

"Yes, Lord Megatron."

"To pledge your spark to the future of a new world?"

"Yes."

"To carry our sigil with humility into the darkest hour and beyond?"

"Yes."

"In this moment we witness a new decepticon rise above his rank, to become... Steelwing. Rise, and face your fellow decepticons."

Soundwave smiled behind his visor. Not only had it been too long since he'd seen anyone gain a name, it seemed Megatron had settled on the one he'd chosen.

The vehicon, or rather Steelwing, got to his feet, turning toward the other decepticons and saluting them, holding a hand to his chest again. They, in turn, all saluted back in unison. All except Ratchet, that was. Megatron glared momentarily at the autobot, not taking kindly to such disrespect, but not wishing to ruin the atmosphere by acknowledging it. Finally the gladiator nodded to the newly named Steelwing, who silently returned to his seat as Megatron continued.

"I do wish for this to become a more... regular occurrence once again. However, we still have pressing concerns at hand, between dwindling rations and lack of equipment."

Soundwave sent a local message as he lowered his head.

[I apologize, my Lord. The computer network is my responsibility, but I have been unable to restore functionality to the Triad's original data core.]

"You need not apologize. You and Shockwave have been working tirelessly, and I know you are doing all that you can."

Shockwave interjected, speaking as though he could hear Soundwave's thoughts and verbalize them.

"We have come to find that a return to the Javelin would be most logical."

"Explain."

"It suffered the least amount of damage in its crash than the other selected vessels, and as such, I believe many of its systems may still be functional. In addition, the Apex Sirion, considering its history as a research vessel, could provide some of the equipment we currently require."

Megatron turned his gaze instead toward Starscream, whose wings sank back slightly in response as the gladiator addressed him.

"What do you know about these vessels?"

"Ah... the Javelin was downed because of a mechanical failure, not in combat, so its hull remained mostly intact as it fell. That's why it and the Triad were both ready for transport at the same time, even though we started on the Triad first. The Apex Sirion, on the other hand... was searched through and stripped of volatile materials ages ago, so we're not likely to find energon there. But it probably does have useful equipment. Medical devices and such."

"So you support Shockwave's suggestion?"

Starscream let out a raspy sigh as he replied.

"Yes, master."

"Very well then. Steelwing, because the Triad is now our command outpost, I will be moving your team to the Javelin instead. Restore the power core if you can. Find out if any of the systems are functional."

The silver figure nodded, and Megatron instead turned to an otherwise regular vehicon.

"You will lead a team to the Apex Sirion. Take utmost caution as you search for anything of use."

He looked toward Ratchet, looking down on him in a purposefully intimidating fashion.

"I would ask you to accompany them, considering your areas of expertise."

Ratchet took a moment to respond, avoiding Megatron's gaze.

"... Fine."

The gladiator scanned the room again before speaking again.

"I understand that it is difficult, but I would also suggest that everyone continue to conserve as much energon as possible. We do not know how long it will be before our stock is replenished. I am prohibiting all groundbridge use until further notice, or when explicit permission is given. That is all for now. Dismissed."

As was typical, Megatron left the room first, followed by everyone else. Steelwing was the first of the others to leave, considering his understandable excitement, but within a minute, the room had emptied to just Soundwave and Shockwave. The silent figure started to leave, but upon noticing Shockwave clutching his abdomen seemingly in distress, he stopped and turned to face him.

[Are you alright?]

"I... this is only temporary."

[That's due to the... carrier protocol?]

"Yes."

Shockwave placed his gun arm on the table, using it to help lift himself up. Slowly he straightened up, and let his other arm rest at his side. He cast only a glance at Soundwave before walking out of the room.

As much as Soundwave would liked to have forgotten all about that predicament, he couldn't. It consumed his mind yet again as he finally left the room and headed back toward the lab. Why did one encounter with Shockwave have to result in this when they had so many other things to be concerned about? Fate was a cruel mistress, it seemed.

Soundwave soon found himself standing at his workspace, gazing at all the data presented on his visor, barely able to process anything anymore. Fatigue ate away at him, stealing his concentration and his proficiency. He let his head hang down, closing his eyes again as if the fleeting moments of sleep he occasionally had were enough to sate his aching mind. It was not long, however, before the sound of footsteps jolted him back to awareness, and he looked over to find Megatron staring at him.

"I don't know how you manage to do that standing up."

Soundwave couldn't think of anything to say in response, so Megatron merely turned toward the door, gesturing with his head for Soundwave to follow. They walked silently through the dark hallways, past several insecticons, before coming to one door and stepping through. The room was somewhat disheveled, the only objects in it being a few canisters of energon and several broken devices, all handheld and fairly simple, but surrounded by their component parts. These were Megatron's current quarters, but this room was nothing compared to what he'd had on the Nemesis. The gladiator stepped across a large crack in the floor to a device on the other side.

"I figured you could use this."

He flipped a switch, causing the device to emit a low, quiet hum; the sound of motors as they...

Soundwave stepped over to look at it.

[What does it do?]

"Nothing. I just thought it would help you sleep."

He looked up at Megatron, whose return stare was as calm as ever. But he could find no words, and so he merely responded with a shift in his aura to warmth and contentment. He stepped toward the gladiator, who, understanding his gesture, lifted a hand to brush against the side of his arm.

"You can stay here, for now, if you want."

In response, Soundwave moved over to the berth and seemed almost too eager to rest his weight onto something and lay down, causing Megatron to laugh slightly.

"But don't get used to it."

Although Megatron had only touched his arm upon being prompted, his voice was its own comfort, equally as soft and calming as any physical contact. Moreover, at times like these, Soundwave almost felt as though his voice was a type of physical contact, as little sense as that made. Somehow, by some strange magic, it was as though Megatron's low, quiet voice had consumed him, leaving in its wake the warm, physical sensation of comfort.

Soundwave didn't even remember hearing him leave.

 

He had not slept for long, but it was long enough. His mind had returned to its full awareness, and naturally he returned to his work on the computer systems. Shockwave stood by his side as he powered on one of the lab's terminals, watching and waiting and hoping that anything other than static would appear on screen. After a few moments, the screen flickered slightly, distortions rippling across the display, but it only returned to static a second later. Soundwave let out a sigh, and Shockwave glanced down at him. His aura was quiet, but it was clear he was trying to seem comforting, based on the way he hesitantly grabbed Soundwave's wrist and moved it from the console.

"It is most likely a bad connection."

Shockwave knew how infuriating this whole thing was to Soundwave. He could see the way it tormented him, even through his visor. He was the most skilled decepticon for this task, and he'd been spending weeks on it. Still, even the terminals closest to the main computer core were all but useless.

The scientist looked away for a moment, then back at Soundwave, hesitating to speak.

"Perhaps you should... move onto a different task. For a time."

The silent figure looked straight into Shockwave's eye, his aura briefly filled with disgust.

[There are no other tasks even near the same importance as this one.]

"Throwing yourself at one problem for too long can make you blind to it."

Soundwave's aura quieted, and he looked away.

[You're right. As always.]

Even as they declined to look at each other, Shockwave rested a hand on Soundwave's shoulder, and Soundwave placed his hand onto the scientist's in response. This lasted for only a fleeting moment, however, as Soundwave turned to leave.

His quiet footsteps echoed in the empty halls of the Triad, considering most of the other decepticons were staying in the other two ships to conserve energon from transportation. Still, occasionally he walked past vehicons cutting steel to fill the gaps in wall panels, or repairing the doors, or insecticons stuck to the ceiling and replacing light fixtures. He wasn't entirely sure where he was going, but he needed to clear his mind.

As he rounded one corner, he looked up just in time to stop before running into Starscream. The seeker looked up at him, but almost immediately averted his gaze, holding his arms close to him as he moved to step around Soundwave. But the silent form grabbed one of his arms to stop him, and held it in his hands to look at two parallel marks on his upper arm, and one more on his forearm. They looked like scratch marks, but Soundwave hadn't remembered seeing them before.

[What happened?]

The seeker tore his arm out of Soundwave's grasp, holding it up against his chest.

"That was nothing. Now if you'll excuse me..."

Starscream walked away, and Soundwave stared at him for a minute. A vague suspicion lurked in the back of his mind that the seeker had made those marks himself, but that was a bold accusation, and he had no real evidence for it. He turned back to continue walking, when Ratchet instead approached him from a nearby room.

"I was... looking for you."

[Yes?]

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I presumed you would be most amenable to this."

Soundwave stayed silent, already knowing the autobot's next words were not going to be positive.

"I... I can't stay here anymore."

[You want to leave?]

Ratchet sighed, and looked off to one side.

"It was different when you were in charge of a few scattered troops, but I can't in good conscience ever work for Megatron. That, and I don't think I'm ready to leave Cybertron again."

Soundwave merely stared at the autobot, his mind suddenly consumed with remorse. How was it that everything and everyone was falling apart now? Nonetheless, he had always promised Ratchet his freedom, and he had no intention of breaking that promise.

[I... understand. But we are more in need of your technical skills now than ever. Megatron has halted all groundbridge use as well, and I doubt he would be willing to make an exception for you.]

"I know. It's not immediate. And..."

He could see Ratchet struggle to say the next thing he wanted to say, finally closing his eyes as he took a deep breath and spoke.

"Th-... Thank you. For... respecting me."

Soundwave could only nod slowly. The autobot seemed somewhat flustered still, finally walking off as though he was in a rush to get somewhere. But Soundwave closed his eyes. They might have gained one decepticon recently, but Ratchet was leaving, and he feared Starscream was doing the same, all while his own hard work was proving to be meaningless.

 

Fortunately for him, when he returned back to his work on the computer network, his mind had been sufficiently reset, and he finally started making progress. It was only isolated to the one terminal in the lab, but it was a start. It clearly hadn't been used since the Triad had initially crashed, as was evident by its system time being off by about 600 years. Still, it was interesting. As Soundwave scanned through the most recent logs, he found records from the days of Kolkular, when the decepticons had been finalizing their plan to take Vos. Starscream had been very involved in that plan, considering it was once his home; albeit one he hated. In fact, while he was proud to have been a senator there, he wanted nothing more than to watch it burn. He'd described the city once as a "cesspool of classist dreams," which seemed fitting given what Soundwave had seen of it. It was the pinnacle city of corruption, whose citizens had long lived in naive ignorance of the war, given that most of them probably didn't take Megatron seriously on account of his having been a slave.

But then there were records from Tarn, that rust-laden industrial realm. Few good things had ever been known to come from Tarn, one of them being Shockwave. Aside from that, Soundwave had only ever known it as a city of factories, mines, and factories built within mines. He had never held any interest in knowing more about it, and even Shockwave had found that to be logical.

Corumkan, Nuon, Harmonex, all cities mentioned within the ancient logs, and entirely unnotable. Soundwave kept going through the terminal's data, realizing finally that Cybertron was an awful place. That determination was most likely made from his memories of before the war, when all the planet's infrastructure had been built upon the backs of slaves, but even despite that, only Vos really stood out as a 'nice' place by any measure, and even Starscream, one of the rare decepticons to have come from the upper classes, hated it. Perhaps Cybertron had deserved to be destroyed after all.

He heard the door to the lab open, but didn't need to look back to identify Shockwave's heavy footsteps and calm aura. The scientist stepped up to him, glancing at what he had been reading.

"The records from the Triad were saved?"

[It seems so.]

"Impressive. Are there records of the Javelin or Apex?"

With a few keystrokes, the terminal began searching through the computer's mountain of records, finally pulling up two sets of blueprint images.

[Javelin and Voulge. And the Triad, of course. I don't think the other two had been built at the time.]

"Nonetheless, that will help significantly with reconstruction efforts."

Shockwave turned back to his immaculately organized corner of the room, and Soundwave sent a message as he continued to look through the terminal's data.

[Did you ever make progress on the synthetic dark energon project after... you became distracted?]

"I fail to see relevance."

[I was thinking about regular synthetic energon as a strategy for combating our current deficiency and was reminded of your experiments, especially since you initially mentioned using it to revive the Nemesis. Now we have three ships that could use it.]

"We lack the proper raw materials and equipment for producing it."

[But your project?]

"Practically inconclusive, but impractically informative."

Soundwave stopped for a moment, as it took a second to even process what that meant. Shockwave continued after a second.

"I no longer have reason to believe that the use of dark energon on the ships would be a reasonable idea, considering they must be significantly altered from their original design merely to combine with the others. In addition... the last attempt did not end favorably."

[True.]

"Besides, my project would have been destroyed with or without your distraction."

[You can't blame all of that on me.]

"Not all of it, no. But most."

[Most?]

Shockwave merely emitted some form of amusement in his aura, which was probably a feeling he had to manufacture.

The two worked silently beside each other, as they usually did, feeding somewhat off of each others' auras, only needing to be in proximity to feel comforted. Even Shockwave, who usually became heavily distracted or subsequently angered by anyone else in his lab, was fine with Soundwave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The thing I described where a voice can feel like physical contact is a thing that actually happens to me. It's weird, and difficult to describe, but it also seemed like something that would apply to Soundwave.


	8. Collateral Damage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Music for Soundwave/Megatron's conversation onward: Metroid Prime, Phendrana Drifts - Chapel of the Elders

Such was the manner of progress on the Triad; fleeting but rapid. Over that day and the following morning, Soundwave and Shockwave had managed to restore functionality to three different consoles, although, of course, that was only a fraction of the many terminals that needed repair.

But at the meeting later that day, even this progress seemed insignificant.

Soundwave sat at his usual spot in the room, Shockwave beside him. He gazed at something displayed on the screen on Shockwave's arm panel, when he looked up to watch as Starscream entered. Even the scientist froze upon seeing him, and how awful he looked. The seeker now had several marks on his face matching those Soundwave had already noticed on his arms. His eyes seemed pale, like he hadn't slept in several days, and much of the metal across his body was scuffed, sometimes to the point of showing different colors underneath. The scratches on his arms and face were probably his own doing, but Soundwave quickly began to suspect that Megatron had also had a part in some of the injuries.

He loved Megatron and admired him with every fiber of his being, but he'd never condoned the way he treated Starscream. The gladiator had, on rare occasions, admitted that their dynamic was highly dysfunctional, but that subject was also very sensitive, and so it didn't come up very often.

Starscream averted his gaze from the other two in the room, knowing well that they had questions, but desperately wanting to avoid that discussion. Soundwave couldn't even feel his normally radiant aura, given how much he suppressed it. The seeker sat down on the other side of the table, resting his head in one hand and looking away from them.

Steelwing and the other vehicon assigned to the Apex Sirion were staying in their respective ships per Megatron's orders, so Ratchet was the only other one who needed to show up. Soundwave had only invited him to the meetings initially as a gesture of transparency, but occasionally he'd provided reasonable advice, and Megatron seemed to agree. As the autobot entered this time, he looked at a small tablet and idly sat down in the empty space between Starscream and Shockwave, trying to stay as far away from both as possible. After a moment, he set it down and looked toward the seeker.

"What, no insults today?"

Starscream turned his head to look at him with a passing side glance, his face clearly showing his tendency to express his inner turmoil as outward anger, and even Ratchet looked concerned for a moment, the branching lines beneath his irises becoming visible.

"What  _ happened? _ "

The seeker looked back away, and Soundwave had briefly considered sending the autobot a message, but that was when Megatron walked in. He clearly read the silence in the room as being ruminative, and glanced between the other occupants before turning to Soundwave, speaking in a quiet voice. It was not the calming, full tone he usually used, but rather a more hollow sounding voice; almost seeming fatigued.

"Have you made any progress?"

Soundwave looked over toward the scientist, who seemed all too glad to speak in his stead.

"We have fully restored three computer consoles, allowing us access to the data core. We located original building plans for the Triad, Javelin, and Voulge, which should expedite reconstruction efforts."

"Good. Have you sent the Javelin's plans to Steelwing?"

Soundwave nodded, and Megatron closed his eyes for a moment before turning to Ratchet instead.

"I understand that you wish to leave."

The autobot cast a quick, almost insulted glance over toward Soundwave, as if somehow expecting that he would keep such important information from the leader of the decepticons. All within a second, though, Ratchet seemed to regain his composure as he looked up at Megatron.

"Yes. I'm not ready to leave Cybertron."

The gladiator was silent for a moment.

"I know I once had you captured, and that we were all a part of those events, but I no longer feel that same desire to keep you against your will. I also understand that it was Soundwave who promised you the ability to leave at your choosing, and so I will respect his judgement. But, assuming you don't intend to drive to the other side of the planet, our groundbridge still needs work before it can be used to send you to Iacon, and we at present lack the energon to power such a bridge."

"I've... been working on the first part, at least."

The fire in Megatron's eyes flared as he finally stared down at Starscream.

"And the second?"

The seeker cowered slightly, his wings sinking back as he turned away for a second. He looked up at Megatron for only a fleeting moment, the nervousness in his breath showing that he was trying to think of what to say. The gladiator, watching his terrified silence with some degree of disappointment, finally spoke.

"So it seems that even an Energon Seeker can find me no energon."

He passively pointed a silver finger toward Ratchet.

"You can leave once the groundbridge is ready  _ and _ there is enough energon,"

He instead gestured toward Shockwave.

"-So I will need you to manage plans for reconstruction of the Triad. Otherwise..."

He started to walk out of the room, clearly in an attempt to curb his own anger before he took it out on Starscream again.

"... Keep going."

That was it. These meetings were normally quite short, but they usually never ended like that. He had left the room in the awkward silence of his absence, and its occupants all hesitantly looked toward Starscream. Given that he heard no one else get up to leave, the seeker finally glanced at the others, the terror in his eyes quickly giving way to rage.

"... Quit  _ staring! _ "

He got up and shuffled out of the room, his left arm clutching his right, showing two separate places where his fingers had dug into it enough to draw blood.

As he left, Ratchet turned his attention to the other two, his silent stare clearly asking what that had been about, and finally Soundwave sent a message.

[I do not wish to demonize my master in any fashion.]

Clearly that was all he needed to say. Ratchet's gaze turned pensive, and Soundwave got up to leave finally, followed by Shockwave.

As they walked down the hallways of the Triad, Soundwave lost himself in thought for a while, trying to think of how to phrase the question he wanted to ask Shockwave.

[I know you don't exactly feel sympathy, but... do you feel bad for Starscream?]

Against his expectations, Shockwave elected to respond silently as well after a minute.

[He has not contributed much to the decepticons recently, so I feel no need to help him.]

[Do his past accomplishments still hold value?]

The two stepped into the lab, and almost as soon as the door closed behind them, Shockwave replied as usual.

"This issue concerns philosophy rather than logic, so my opinions are equal in merit to yours. And in my opinion, a given person's value hinges on the trend of their ability to contribute. Repeated demonstrations of adeptness denote a greater value. On the other hand, Starscream has not demonstrated any such usefulness in some time. Thus, his value, in my view, is close to nothing."

[Do you think Megatron is making him worse?]

"That is irrelevant. If he cannot function under Megatron's command, he should not be here."

Considering Soundwave had no response, Shockwave looked back at him.

"I presume you do feel sympathy for him?"

[For some reason, yes.]

"Do you like him?"

Soundwave looked over at the scientist for a brief moment.

[Like is a strong word.]

"Then this determination is unbiased."

[You could say that.]

"And what is it you feel Starscream deserves?"

[Not to be beaten for ineptitude, for one thing.]

"Why?"

[I'm not certain. It seems to me that one should only be punished for positive actions. Failure to do something is a lack of action.]

"Interesting."

Shockwave looked like he was going to respond, but instead returned to his corner of the room, doing whatever he was doing with his laser tools.

Soundwave gradually returned to his work in full force, his focus narrowing on the repair of parts from another console so much so that it felt like he transcended space. He lost his sense of time, ignored the occasional speech from vehicons outside the room, and all but forgot about the happenings outside that room. While this trance felt short-lived, it was actually several hours before he was interrupted by a message from Megatron. He'd almost ignored it, given the frequency at which the vehicons sent him regular work logs, but fortunately he caught the message before it faded from his mind.

[Where is Starscream?]

He checked the time, suddenly realizing how much time had passed without his knowledge. He did a quick scan of the energy signatures in the Triad, none of which were Starscream's.

Soundwave's mind began to wake from his prior state, and a sense of concern already began to well up within him. He widened his search parameters, finding no trace of the seeker around the ship, within range of the Javelin, or even near the Apex Sirion. His mind began racing through different possibilities, and Megatron messaged him again.

[Soundwave?]

[I can't find him. Either he's shielded, or he's gone.]

There was no response. Soundwave turned to leave suddenly, eliciting an annoyed sound from Shockwave on the other side of the room. He turned to look toward the scientist as he stopped.

[What?]

"Every day you leave my lab in disarray."

[I need to go look for Starscream.]

Soundwave didn't even wait for a response before walking out of the room finally.

He again became lost in thought as he made his way outside the ship and transformed, flying up into the silent air. He peered down at the world below him, trying to find some trace of Starscream's signal as he ascended further into the sky. His field of view expanded, but he saw nothing. Only the dead remains of Cybertron rested beneath him, and it still hurt to look at. Among the ruins were no stray life signals, no traces of former life, and no traces of possible future life.

Starscream was one of the fastest fliers to have ever been part of the decepticons; if he was this far past Soundwave's gaze, he was much too far away for even Megatron to catch him. Of course, there was another possibility to explain the disappearance of his life signal, but Soundwave knew somehow that the seeker was still alive. He had run off before, and he had come back before.

Was Soundwave the only person who held some semblance of respect toward Starscream? He stared out at the landscape before him as he started to glide back down toward the surface, recognizing some of the buildings among the ruins of Kaon. This place had harbored all manner of depravity for centuries, the most atrocious being the way the servant class was treated. The slaves of Kaon were by far the most openly abused, and some were thrown into the gladiatorial arena as a death sentence, only to satisfy some sort of sick desire by the higher classes to watch a blood sport.

Subject to arbitrary standards, neglected, beaten for inadequacy... was Starscream not treated like a slave?

The very thought was toxic. As Soundwave flew back down to the Triad, he located Megatron's signal and, upon walking back into the vessel's halls, began to pursue him. He stepped up to the door to Megatron's quarters, only needing to hold his hand to the nearby panel for the door to open. The gladiator appeared to have been repairing a hand drill when Soundwave walked in, and the very act caused him to let out an annoyed sigh as he looked away.

"I know what you're thinking."

[You drove him off again.]

"It's a manipulation tactic to get attention. He'll come back."

[I don't believe that.]

It was highly uncommon for Soundwave to be this angry, but it was exceptionally rare for him to be angry with Megatron. Nonetheless, he stood beside the gladiator, holding his aura steady in a calm fury. Megatron looked over at him finally with annoyance in his eyes, but nothing more.

"You don't think he'll come back?"

[I don't believe it's manipulation. Not for an instant.]

"And what do you believe it is?"

Megatron clearly didn't want to be discussing this, as shown by the building rage in his own aura, but he had always been forgiving with Soundwave, and usually listened. The silent decepticon hesitated before responding, considering he really didn't want to test the gladiator's patience.

[Starscream is searching for purpose, and you...]

Megatron's eyes turned downright frightening as he stared at Soundwave, speaking with a low but very deliberate tone.

"I  _ what? _ "

They both knew the answer to that. Soundwave looked away from the gladiator, if only to avoid succumbing to fear.

[He is broken, and you're punishing him for being broken.]

Megatron turned away, his voice clearly showing a huge amount of restraint.

" _ Don't go there. _ "

[Why is he the only one who receives this kind of wrath from you?]

Soundwave almost couldn't believe he'd sent that message. Megatron threw his hands down on the table beside him, giving a passing glance toward his third in command that showed the full force of the pure rage he was suppressing.

"I said  _ don't go there. _ "

[You're treating him like a slave.]

Megatron finally turned in an instant, causing Soundwave to flinch as he held up a hand only to point toward him.

"Don't you  _ ever  _ say that to me again!"

Soundwave stood there, suddenly overcome with fear, but he forced himself to stay put, even though every iota of common sense he had told him to back away. Megatron stared him down, his burst of rage slowly beginning to subside.

"Do you understand me?"

Soundwave closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Finally he raised his head to look back at the gladiator through his visor.

[You would have struck him for that.]

The full force of Megatron's fury suddenly erupted as he took a step toward Soundwave, staring down at his shorter height with crazed eyes.

" _ Why _ are you testing me, Soundwave!? Why does it matter to you what happens to Starscream? I don't care why he left, but if he  _ ever _ comes back here, he will get everything he deserves for abandoning us!"

[Even if you drove him off?]

In a flash of silver, Soundwave found himself thrown to the ground, the side of his head suddenly stinging in pain. He looked up at the gladiator, a torrent of emotions suddenly welling up within him. Even Megatron seemed stunned, given the way he hesitantly reached toward the silent decepticon to help him up. Soundwave recoiled somewhat in response, and the gladiator finally backed away.

They might have fought each other in the arena long ago, but Megatron had  _ never _ struck him out of anger.

Soundwave got to his feet, averting his gaze as he still struggled to keep his composure. Megatron's aura had turned entirely solemn instead, and he kept his distance as much as he could.

"I-..."

Soundwave only needed to hold up a hand to silence him, and finally he looked toward the gladiator. They only exchanged glances for a second, but volumes were conveyed in their silent stares. Soundwave closed his eyes again, trying to keep himself calm, at least outwardly.

[I think you just proved my point.]

Megatron dared not say a word, and so Soundwave finally left the room.

 

His mind still churned with horrible thoughts as he wandered back toward the lab, barely noticing or caring about the way the vehicons threw occasional insults toward the insecticons. On any other day, he would have tried to de-escalate their conflict. On any other day he would have cared.

The door to the lab opened, and he stepped inside, briefly glancing at Shockwave as he worked, then over to his corner. The space he had been using was cleared of all his materials, prompting him to look back at Shockwave.

[Did you move my things?]

The scientist didn't look as he replied.

"You left my lab disorganized. I had to fix it in order to concentrate."

[I had a reason.]

"Yes, I-"

Shockwave turned finally, but upon seeing Soundwave, he froze somewhat. Soundwave merely stood there, somewhat confused, watching as the scientist stepped over to him, staring at him, then placed a hand on the side of his head. Soundwave pulled his head back slightly, seeing as this contact was out of context, but Shockwave grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him closer so as to look at his head.

"What happened?"

[What?]

"This mark here."

That was the side where Megatron had hit him. Soundwave tried to stifle the conflicted emotions he felt all of a sudden; sadness, anger, fear.

[Nothing.]

"Don't lie to me."

Soundwave remained silent, and Shockwave grabbed the side of his head again.

"You're reacting in an identical fashion to Starscream when I asked him the same question regarding some of his injuries."

Soundwave backed away, backing into the central table where he stopped. Shockwave continued to stare at him, but he didn't move. Finally, Soundwave responded.

[Megatron.]

"... Megatron did this to you?"

Soundwave had no reply. Shockwave let out a quiet sigh before stepping closer again, this time glancing at the side of Soundwave's head with much gentler touches than before. Although his aura remained calm, his voice contained traces of anger.

"I see no damage. What of Starscream?"

[Missing.]

Shockwave finally backed away, although he held his right hand in a fist at his side. The two remained silent, looking away from each other, seemingly in thought. Soundwave sent a message after a minute, although he still avoided looking toward the scientist.

[I only came back here to put my things away.]

"I appreciate that."

The silence that followed was not the kind of silence that calmed the mind, but rather the kind that tormented it. Soundwave could tell there were a great many things Shockwave wanted to say, and all of those potential questions lingered in his thoughts, screaming at him for answers. When the scientist finally broke the silence, however, he did not ask any of the questions Soundwave had expected.

"Do you... want to go to the spring?"

Soundwave gave a silent nod in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realize now this chapter was really just Soundwave having a terrible day. :(


	9. Lifeblood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so damn long. I was getting stuck in filler, then went back to a writing group once it started getting active again, and my mind switched away from this story for a while. Also I need a Shockwave figure to put on my dresser to stare at when I can't visualize him, which is all the time. I kept the box for a japanese Megatron figure and it helps me to hear his voice in my mind.  
> Oh, what am I rambling on about, just read the chapter.

The days that followed were horribly tense. There were no meetings, since there were too few people to make it worthwhile, so Soundwave merely found himself alongside Shockwave for most of his waking hours, repairing everything he could. The days started to blur together, and he could no longer remember what had been done the current day versus the one previous. No one really spoke to each other, and so everything fell silent.

Soundwave stared at the computer terminal in the lab, scanning through a page of text before realizing that although he had read it, none of it actually registered in his mind. He went back, trying to read the same thing again, then again, but to no avail. He finally just set the computer to standby as he held a hand to his head. He didn't even feel all that tired, but clearly his mind ached from fatigue. He looked over toward Shockwave, finding him in a similarly fatigued posture. He sat on a large storage crate, resting his weight across the counter in front of him, head resting on his arms.

[Shockwave?]

There was no response. Soundwave stepped over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. Shockwave let out something of an unintelligible moan as he raised his head finally, looking toward Soundwave. It seemed he had fallen asleep holding a soldering iron, and still held onto it as he awoke.

"What?"

[I think we need to move on to something else for a while.]

"... Why?"

[I can't think anymore. And it's starting to look like you can't either.]

Shockwave looked back at the counter, noticing the soldering iron in his hand and, for a moment, seemed as though he were questioning why he held it before setting it down.

"Ah... this isn't... because of my work."

From the way the scientist started putting things in their proper places, it didn't look like he was going to continue, and Soundwave briefly rolled his eyes as he was forced to ask the obvious.

[What is it then?]

"It seems... these energon rations are... no longer enough."

[They're not really enough for anyone.]

"Especially not when one is carrying, despite their wishes."

[Is it really that annoying?]

Shockwave didn't look at him as he spoke.

"All of my organs are shifting out of place, which is... uncomfortable."

[You know, if you need more energon, you could have told me that sooner.]

"And then, inevitably, a vehicon would ask someone why I was receiving more."

Soundwave could only stare at him for a moment. Not that it seemed unreasonable to try and hide such a thing, but it seemed strange for Shockwave to care. The scientist finished putting away everything that had been on the table, and he looked over at Soundwave hesitantly, as if asking why he was staring, prompting him to reply.

[I didn't think you'd go through the trouble of hiding this, is all.]

Shockwave glanced back down at his hand as it rested on the counter, sighing quietly.

"In truth, I would rather you not have known either. It only seemed immoral for Ratchet to know and you to remain unaware."

[Why  _ does _ he know?]

"He was testing the scanner. Apparently it's habitual for him to test it on other people. To be fair, his explanation was logical, and I only object to it now because of this current... predicament. If I intended on keeping the child, I would not care who knew about it. But for now, I'm forced to deal with these symptoms whilst I wait for the materials necessary to terminate it. It is... merely simpler to keep this hidden if I can."

[Even if you're starving yourself of energon?]

"And, since  _ that's _ clearly unacceptable, I must resign to a compromise. I don't think I need all that much more, but I still feel it is somewhat unfair to be asking."

[It's fine. You didn't choose this.]

They went silent for a minute, at least until Soundwave sent him another message.

[I've... never seen you drink energon.]

"That is intentional."

[Why?]

"Uh..."

Hearing Shockwave stutter like that was somewhat off-putting, as was the way he raised his head to show a few small, strange appendages protruding from underneath, one in particular seeming like a coiled up proboscis of sorts. Soundwave could only remain frozen in place as he tried to find an appropriate response.

[I think the sound you just made sums up my reaction.]

"As I figured."

[That looks very... insecticon.]

"Chelicerate, actually."

Soundwave tilted his head slightly.

"The chelicerates were a genetic group who possessed both chordate and insecticon traits, something of a relative to both. Pure chelicerates still exist, although they are uncommon. But their traits permeate much of the existing gene pool. They are merely recessive, usually."

[So are you saying you're a different species?]

"No. Chelicerates are not different enough to be considered a different species, nor am I one of them. The only pure chelicerate I was personally aware of was Airachnid. They're only... a cross, of sorts, between chordata and insecticon, sometimes from common ancestry, sometimes from interbreeding."

[Primus, that's possible!?]

"Under very specific circumstances, yes."

[Why do you even know this?]

"I live to know."

[About insecticons breeding with regular cybertronians?]

"I don't know that the phrase 'regular' is very applicable. Insecticons are as much from Cybertron as we are. I have only read about such cases of interbreeding, but it seemed the chelicerates produced were... fascinating."

[I thought the insecticons  _ were  _ a different species?]

"They are. But they are still Cybertronian, and are not very far removed from us."

Soundwave shifted his aura to something of mild amusement as he looked away. While he would rather have never had to deal with the insecticons, it now seemed everything came back to them. Their exodus would only work with them, they believed Shockwave to be their oracle, and it seemed Shockwave himself possessed strange mouthparts vaguely derived from them. The scientist glanced at him momentarily with an awkward tension in his aura, speaking a moment later.

"What did you want to move on to?"

[Honestly I thought you'd have a suggestion for that.]

He was still standing directly beside Shockwave, but it didn't feel as awkward as he would have thought. Rather, having seen a glimpse of the scientist's true character, he now wanted to know everything. A few silent moments went by before Soundwave placed a hand on Shockwave's shoulder again, something of a gentle petting. Strangely enough, the scientist responded by holding his hand to Soundwave's back, which was only strange because it still seemed unexpected. Shockwave looked away as he did this, almost seeming less comfortable than Soundwave.

Shockwave really was an enigma.

Still, his aura emanated warmth, and his touch was appropriately gentle, as was the way he moved to almost embrace him from one side. Soundwave, of course, fell into this embrace all too willingly, but continued to watch the odd way the scientist continued to avert his gaze.

[What is it?], he asked finally.

"I wish not to form too much of an emotional attachment to you."

The admission had not been so much offensive as curious. Shockwave was becoming more confusing than Starscream.

[You're trying to avoid that?]

"Yes. I try to avoid it with everyone, not just you."

[Then why were you open to any... interaction with me in the first place?]

"Physical contact and emotional attachment are not intrinsically linked. At least... I would like to believe so. It has become difficult to differentiate the two."

The whole time, Soundwave and Shockwave somewhat rested against each other, both trying to stave off a desire for sleep.

[Belief is illogical.]

"Indeed."

As their strange attempt at casual hugging grew increasingly relaxed, Shockwave broke the silence again.

"I do not mean to offend you, of course."

[Why?]

"I... would like to be on good terms with you. For what reason, I do not know."

Soundwave hid a growing uneasiness in his aura as he hesitated to respond.

[Do you care about me in some way?]

"No more than usual."

[And what is usual?]

"No more than is necessary."

Shockwave hadn't appeared to hesitate, which seemed odd given the way he still held Soundwave next to him. Soundwave started to back away from him following this, considering all the comforting warmth he'd felt suddenly seemed like a lie somehow.

[Then you shouldn't care about offending me.]

Shockwave finally looked at him as he pulled away.

"It is only practical."

[Is everything only practical to you?]

"Yes. Please, know that I... do not want to offend you by saying I don't care. But, above all else, I do not want to lie to you. I merely... am somewhat incapable of caring."

[Somewhat?]

Shockwave's voice had started sounding almost pleading. For him, at least.

"I'm certain it's possible, as it's happened in the past, but I have long since decided to forego the complexities of emotional turmoil, precisely to avoid this type of conflict. If I must decide between you and the integrity of my work... Logic precludes what I feel."

Soundwave stared at him, trying to grasp everything he said. It would be stupid to think Shockwave could  _ love _ him; that was hardly a reasonable expectation. What didn't make sense was that Shockwave had no  _ preference  _ toward him. Why, then, was the scientist so concerned with whether he was being offensive? Why had he become so distraught when Soundwave followed him to the bottom floor of the tower when it collapsed? Why had he claimed he enjoyed the bits of time they spent together upon being asked? Was this all some sort of deception? Or, perhaps, was Shockwave lying to himself in claiming he cared no more than was necessary?

In a brief return to reality, Soundwave forced these thoughts from his mind, lest they consume him. He had more important things to worry about, after all.

They eventually settled on drafting some of the plans for connecting the ships together, starting with the Triad and Javelin. Shockwave had suggested they work on different tasks, but Soundwave insisted on working with him still. It was not so much an attempt to spend more time with him, as the scientist would like to have thought, but moreso out of concern. Shockwave was the kind of mech to forego any thought toward his own health should his work be important enough, and given that he'd already begun starving himself of energon merely to keep the fact that he was carrying hidden, Soundwave felt as though he needed to watch him, just to make sure he wasn't neglecting his own health.

And every day, Soundwave flew up into the dead air above the Triad, listening and waiting for any trace of Starscream's signal. But energon was limited, and the flight took its toll on him.

 

Time seemed to pass by alarmingly quickly, and soon it had been a few days since the seeker's disappearance. Whether it was four or five, he couldn't remember, given the myriad of distractions that plagued his thoughts. There was no white noise, so every faint sound he heard stole his attention, as did a lingering desire for a sufficient dose of energon. Over time, it had started to drive him insane. Every pointless distraction felt like a wound in his mind, and he had begun to accumulate quite a few. Soundwave sat in his barren quarters, staring at a half-empty canister of energon he held in his hand when Megatron messaged him.

[Are you aware that Shockwave is receiving 17% more energon than everyone else?]

Soundwave let out a sigh. He knew Megatron would inevitably take notice of that, but he had still hoped that they would stumble upon more energon before that happened.

[Yes.]

[What is the reason for that?]

[He's mildly ill, but did not want to cause concern.]

In some ways, that was true. He never wanted to lie to Megatron, but it would be  _ much _ simpler here. There was a brief moment before the gladiator responded again.

[He hasn't seemed ill to me.]

Soundwave took a moment to think of a response, although part of him feared he would have to end up telling the truth.

[Shockwave could be bleeding to death and he would pretend he was fine. I saw him start to get affected, though, and had to convince him to take more energon.]

[I know it's not that much more, but we only have about 16 days worth of energon left as is.]

[Are you saying I should set his rations back to the regular amount?]

There was silence for some time, and Soundwave opened the canister he held, taking off his visor a moment later and drinking some of the energon within.

It tasted like sand.

Finally, he received a response from Megatron.

[If our situation becomes dire enough to where we must restrict rations further, I expect that to apply to Shockwave as well.]

Soundwave took another drink, having to hold his hand to his mouth just to avoid coughing it back up. They had lost their regular energon processors from the collapse, so the makeshift ones they were left with were terrible. In a sense, it tasted like sand because half of it  _ was  _ sand.

Well, silicate compounds dissolved into the energon, along with discernable quantities of aluminum. It tasted awful, but it was all they could manage.

While it had been several days since Megatron had struck his third in command, they still had not spoken in person since then. This was moreso on Megatron's part than Soundwave's, considering he felt horribly ashamed of his actions. It was a flaw he knew he had; to act rashly and violently without reason, but most dared not challenge him, and even Soundwave, for most of the time, believed he was doing the right thing, even if for the wrong reason. Take, for example, the decision to conquer Earth. Soundwave could see that Megatron had no real reason to do so other than to capture a civilization populous enough to fear him, but it was a better planet in most respects. It was rich with energon, strangely enough, filled with plenty of other resources and, most importantly, not a barren wasteland covered in rubble.

Some time later, Soundwave glanced through some of the building plans for the various ships, writing notes about possible ways of connecting them, when a signal caught his attention.

[I'd like a groundbridge.]

Soundwave perked up, realizing who had sent it.

[Starscream?]

[Don't sound so surprised. I always end up coming back... for some reason.]

[Where are you?]

Soundwave got his coordinates a moment later, finding them to be surprisingly far away, lost in the depths of Tarn. Starscream replied before he could.

[Don't worry about the energon restriction.]

The silent decepticon sent a ping to Megatron as he started off toward the transport room. Upon arriving, the portal swirled to life at his command, and Soundwave stepped through.

He found himself in a massive cave, its walls dotted with blue. Crystals of energon jutted out from the rocks all around him, lighting the vacuous room in a soothing blue glow. It looked like an abandoned mine, but there were some piles of energon boxes against a wall as well, implying relatively recent activity. Starscream, having been sitting on the ground, stood up as Soundwave approached.

"There were some other spots, but this one was the most impressive."

[You found more!?]

"I  _ am _ an Energon Seeker, you know."

They stood in silence, and Soundwave could only stare at the sheer amount of energon contained within the massive room. Starscream seemed to fidget for a moment, considering silence usually tormented him, and muttered to the silent decepticon.

"This spot was used as a secret cache of energon by the autobots for a while. It was never found until now. No one's set foot here since around the battle at Dextran."

Soundwave couldn't help but smile behind his visor. He was right. Starscream didn't leave in order to get attention; he left because he felt useless, and now he'd just redeemed himself.

Starscream stared at Soundwave for a moment, trying to see what he was looking at, but finally just walked past him toward the groundbridge, although his lackluster gait implied some significant energon deprivation.

"I guess I'll go get the mining crews."

[Thank you.]

"What?"

Starscream stopped, looking toward Soundwave as he similarly turned to face the seeker's gaze.

[You have done well. Thank you.]

Starscream seemed unable to process this, standing frozen for a moment, his eyes shifting between various points in space. He was probably trying to remember the last time someone had thanked him. Soundwave walked back toward the groundbridge, stepping past the seeker to step through before he could respond.

He'd sent messages to both Megatron and Shockwave, and before long, crews began hauling crates of energon back into the Triad, along with an industrial-grade processor. Life returned to the ship in a matter of hours, mainly because they had been pulled out of starvation. Soundwave stood in the transport room, monitoring the groundbridge, watching as wave after wave of vehicon troops came back and forth with carts filled with energon ore, crates filled with processed energon, and Shockwave walking alongside four insecticons from the portal. The scientist briefly glanced at him as the insecticon to his right spoke.

"-already believe you to be our Oracle."

"I am aware of this."

"We would like to make you an honorary hive member."

Shockwave, despite hearing this, did not hesitate in his wandering over toward Soundwave, or his response.

"I fail to see how that would benefit either party."

In their usual fashion, the insecticons replied in turn, one after the other, just as Shockwave sometimes did for Soundwave.

"Some of us doubt whether the Oracle is truly prescient, but all of us respect you."

"Rather, you seem to be the only one who respects us."

"Our loyalties still lie with Lord Megatron, but you have helped the insecticon hives immensely."

Shockwave stepped up to Soundwave's station, looking toward him even though he responded to the insecticons.

"This latest achievement is attributable to Starscream, and him alone."

"Hah! We give no deference to a Seeker. He is far too cowardly to earn our respect. And besides, this isn't what we're thanking you for."

Shockwave looked back at the last insecticon who spoke.

"Starscream has been in more fights than I have. If your respect is for warriors, I am undeserving."

"That's true, but you have brought all of the insecticon race together. We used to be divided by hives, Synach, Araum, Kel'Veran, so on. No longer. Now we form a Master Hive, and we are enlightened as a result."

Shockwave continued to stare, waiting for a continuation. Only he could stare up at the insecticons towering over him and remain completely calm. Perhaps that was why he gained their respect; even Megatron feared them, although he'd never admit it. One of the other insecticons looked toward Soundwave for a moment, then back down at Shockwave.

"Please, it is a symbol of gratitude. If we had possessions, we would grant you with them. We can only thank you by calling you one of us, since you are clearly our Oracle."

"I am not prescient, nor do I believe your legends. But if you wish to view me as a guiding figure, I cannot do anything about that."

"You make our respect sound like a burden."

The group was silent for a moment, but finally, Shockwave looked back up at the bugs.

"... I will accept whatever title you wish to grant me."

The insecticons around him emitted a series of high-pitched clicking sounds, and the scientist met Soundwave's gaze again, seeming thoroughly confused. Finally the bugs dropped to all fours, each bowing their heads to him. Shockwave even seemed tense as he watched them, backing away slightly.

"Please, I-"

"You are not insecticon, so you may not understand the value of unity among us. But you've granted the insecticon race a new life in this Master Hive. To us, you are kin."

They stood up, finally walking off, leaving Shockwave to step toward Soundwave as though released from captivity and seeking safety.

[What was that all about?], Soundwave asked.

"You heard as much as I did."

[I'm not going to ask what being an honorary hive member means.]

"Insecticon hives are not as depraved as most people think."

Soundwave looked up at Shockwave, and suddenly something clicked. The insecticons loved him because he respected them as equals. Most everyone else assumed they were purely brutish, or simply primitive. Even Soundwave had held those assumptions, but he'd never seen anything to the contrary until now. Shockwave, on the other hand, always seemed to see the humanity in them.

The scientist looked back at him after a moment.

"Most of the energon there doesn't need secondary processing. The energon from the crates is already safe to drink."

[Even though it's been sitting in cubes for centuries?]

"The autobots placed it there with the intention of keeping it away in long-term storage."

They went silent for a moment, but finally Shockwave walked off, probably headed back toward the lab, whereas Soundwave's mind returned to a prior dilemma, considering the sudden relevancy. Speaking of autobots, he had one to send back to Iacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on that last sentence I think it's pretty obvious what the next chapter will include.
> 
> Fun fact: I have no idea what I'm doing with the insecticons.


	10. Ratchet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You all know what's in this chapter already.

Between the return of the vehicons from the other ships, the return back to construction efforts, and the life breathed back into the decepticons, things had quickly become familiar again. Requisition reports, work logs, the sounds of miners, and most impactful to Soundwave, an energon processor beside his room. He'd gone so long having to sleep in silence that he'd started getting used to being constantly sleep deprived. As soon as he laid down in his quarters after the processor was moved, however, everything suddenly felt perfect, and he managed to sleep as though he hadn't done so in years. Shockwave hadn't believed him initially when he mentioned needing white noise to sleep, but he clearly saw the difference it made for Soundwave, and didn't bring it up again.

Of course, this surge in activity was somewhat peripheral to the promise they'd made to Ratchet. He, Soundwave, Megatron and Starscream all stood in the conference room, glancing toward the autobot as he spoke, although Starscream pretended not to listen.

"I'm sure the council's already branded me as a traitor... I can't just walk into the city without them... probably arresting me on sight."

"So this becomes a negotiation..." Megatron said.

"Of course, if that's the case, I'm not sure why any of you would bother helping me to leave."

Megatron looked down at the autobot, his eyes somewhat neutral as he replied again.

"In a past life, I'd have left you on your own, or refused to let you leave."

"And now?"

"I wish to honor my agreements."

Ratchet glanced toward Starscream, who stared him down, then looked back up at Megatron.

"Then how do I clear my name? How can I go back?"

Starscream, having been leaning against the tables, stood upright, his wings turning up as he spoke.

"That's a matter of using their logic against them. You can't be a traitor if you never hurt the autobots."

Megatron glanced toward Soundwave, speaking a moment later.

"Soundwave should go with you."

"What?"

[Why?]

Their responses were almost simultaneous. The gladiator let out a sigh before replying, seeming hesitant to speak.

"If you go on your own, the council won't hesitate to lie to you and imprison you regardless of what they say. That is, if they don't just keep you in exile. If one of us is there... they'll see that we didn't capture you. It'll become more of a negotiation."

[Then why me?]

"Anyone with half a processor would try to kill me, and no one trusts Starscream."

The seeker let out an agitated sound, muttering to himself a moment later.

"I'm not sure whether to feel insulted or flattered by that..."

Ratchet responded on his own, before Megatron could.

"I'd guess the first option. Trustworthiness is a virtue you've never had."

"Yes, I'm a  _ decep _ ticon... Is that really surprising to you?"

"Enough," Megatron spat finally. "I want no deception here. That's why Soundwave will go."

The silent form nodded toward him in response, then looked back at Ratchet, who spoke after a minute.

"I doubt they'll let him into Iacon."

"Well," Starscream replied, "don't go into the city until you know you won't be arrested. Only a fool would make demands on their turf."

"Then why would they ever care about my demands? I'm just an old bot they've deemed a criminal."

"Because, for the second time in your ancient life, the decepticons are on your side."

"You're calling  _ me _ ancient? You were there last time, too."

"I'd say I've aged better."

Starscream sported his signature devious smile, and Megatron rolled his eyes somewhat. It was strange, though. After all, it was this very group and Optimus who first approached the council so long ago. Now, it looked as though history was indeed doomed to repeat itself.

"Well," Megatron said with a sigh, "the groundbridge is ready whenever you choose to leave."

Ratchet stared at him for a moment, then nodded very hesitantly. Clearly he still felt uncomfortable in Megatron's presence, but that was understandable.

And so, before he knew it, Soundwave found himself standing beside the autobot, facing the groundbridge. With a habitual series of commands, the portal opened, and the two mechs briefly exchanged glances. Ratchet gestured toward the portal after a moment.

"You first."

Soundwave could only stare. Ratchet still felt threatened enough to where he suspected the decepticons might send him somewhere else? How sad it was, to see the scars of war still so fresh.

Soundwave gave no acknowledgement as he turned and walked through the portal, though he stopped almost as soon as he went through, considering the fortress that laid on the other side. He heard Ratchet step through, and shut the portal down. Though much of Iacon still laid in ruins, the remainder of the autobot population had crammed themselves into a walled city, isolated from the rest of Cybertron by gates and walls, built between the remains of whatever buildings still stood. They were some distance from the barrier, but already, two figures perched on the wall stared in their direction as they approached.

Ratchet held his hands into fists, his fingers curled around his thumbs as though even he were afraid. He stopped, looking up at the guards who clearly seemed nervous at Soundwave's presence.

"I'd like to speak to the council."

The way he broke the silence was like listening to glass shatter.

The guards looked at each other for a brief moment, then back down at the other autobot.

"Ratchet?"

"Yes."

"We have orders to capture you on sight."

"Well, I won't be-"

Soundwave and the autobot both turned as a groundbridge portal formed behind them, through which a small cadre of other guards ran through, pointing weapons at and stepping toward Ratchet. Soundwave, with swift steps, placed himself between the medic and the guards, holding a defensive stance, but drawing no weapons. The guards hesitated for a moment, casting inquisitive glances at one another, but one approached again, only for Soundwave to deploy his tentacles, the ends of which began to spark with electricity. They stopped, looking back toward one of the guards, seeing as he broke the silence with a comm channel.

"We located the fugitive, but he's being protected by a decepticon."

Ratchet, still standing behind Soundwave, spoke quietly, seemingly to him.

"Fugitive? They..."

The decepticon relaxed his stance somewhat, turning his head toward the autobot as he retracted his cables. A voice came through the guard's comm link, sounding awfully loud considering the dead silence of everyone else around.

"Confirm a decepticon is defending Ratchet? Who?"

"Affirmative. It's Soundwave."

The anxiety in everyone's auras began to permeate the air as it took a moment for the other side to respond.

"Do  _ not  _ engage. What is the fugitive here for?"

The guard looked toward Ratchet as the medic yelled out his own response.

"Not to be referred to as a fugitive, for one thing!"

"Ratchet, are you willing to cooperate with us?"

He and Soundwave stepped forward in tandem, slowly, making sure their movements were fluid and obvious. Ratchet moved beside the decepticon as he spoke toward the guards, to the unidentified voice on the other end.

"Only if you cooperate with me first. I'm no fugitive, I left Iacon because you treated me as a criminal for something I didn't do!"

"You abandoned your duty."

"If I was in exile to begin with, how can I be a fugitive?"

"What do you want from us, Ratchet?"

The autobot stiffened as he responded.

"To be a citizen of Iacon. Not a bounty hunter."

The comm link went silent, and Ratchet turned to look toward Soundwave as he sent him a message.

[This is hopeless. I ruined my chance of ever going back the day I left.]

[If it is any consolation, I believe you did the right thing.]

[It's not.]

"Alright," the voice on the comm link said. "Escort them into the city."

"No."

The tension in the air was painful as Ratchet continued.

"I need to hear it from the council."

The guards all glanced at each other, seemingly questioning what they were supposed to be doing. One of them backed away, considering Soundwave had been staring at him. Finally the response came, clearly begrudged.

"Two council members have agreed to speak with you."

A moment passed in silence, and one of the guards finally spoke.

"What do we do?"

"Supervise the subjects. Do not engage unless they are an imminent threat."

The guards, one by one, traded their guns for their arms, and all began to group together, seemingly wanting to stay away from Ratchet and Soundwave. The autobot medic let out a sigh, as though he had been holding his breath in anxiety, finally releasing enough tension to unclench his hands and stretch his fingers. The time that they waited was awkward at best, but fortunately it did not last long. A figure finally called out from the city's wall, and the group looked over as the two council members approached the edge, one speaking down toward them.

"Might I ask the decepticon what he's doing here?"

Soundwave glared at the councilor, stepping forward after a moment and sending a silent but very emphatic message.

[I won't speak to anyone who feels the need to tower over me. Come down here and face me as an equal.]

The councilor tilted his head, leaning against the wall's railing somewhat.

"Why should our physical locations have any bearing on our discussion?"

[If you spent your whole life being forced to look up to people, maybe you'd understand.]

He turned to the other councilor, who shrugged before jumping down off the wall, followed in turn by the other. Soundwave hadn't expected them to jump down, but it was nonetheless appreciable. The figures approached their group somewhat, although everyone kept their distance. The councilors held their hands behind them, standing upright, trying to convey their false air of superiority without the help of a massive stage. The councilor he'd addressed before spoke again.

"Now, do you have any other pointless requests, or will you start to answer my questions?"

Ratchet looked over at the decepticon, clearly sensing his barely-suppressed hatred for the council.

[I am here to ensure that Ratchet is fairly treated, and should that not be possible, to bring him back to a society that respects him.]

Ratchet stuttered a bit, looking toward the decepticon and speaking as quietly as he could.

"You're not helping my case at  _ all! _ "

[Do you want to win their favor, or your freedom? You can't have both.]

The councilor turned to look toward Ratchet instead.

"And so, that brings me to ask why you are here."

The autobot clearly held a disdain for the High Council just as Soundwave did, evidenced by his refusing to look at either member.

"Councilor Halogen, I... would like to return to Iacon as an autobot citizen, but I believe I was unfairly treated before. That's why I left, and that's why I'm refusing to enter the city until I can be assured I'm not a criminal."

"But you are."

Ratchet's spirit suddenly flared in passion and rage, and Soundwave began to smile.

"Why!? I helped Optimus Prime to  _ restore _ Cybertron! I helped to rebuild Iacon! You wouldn't  _ be _ here if it weren't for me!"

The other councilor, having been silent until now, finally spoke.

"But it was, in part, due to your actions that led to Cybertron's death in the first place."

"To protect the Allspark from Megatron!"

"With whom, it seems, you are now cooperating."

"I-"

Soundwave held up his hand, and Ratchet stopped.

[While Megatron does still live, the decepticons no longer seek war against you. Ratchet left because he felt oppressed by the autobots, and found the decepticons to be more understanding. Is this accurate?]

The autobot seemed hesitant to respond.

"Y-Yes."

"So," Perceptor replied, "you moved from betraying the autobots to outright helping the decepticons, and now you want to come back to Iacon?"

Soundwave's own fury showed itself again as he took half a step forward, attaining a much more threatening stance than before.

[Ratchet can't be a traitor unless there's still a war. The decepticons have put that war aside. Have you?]

The two councilors glanced at each other, and Ratchet briefly sent a message to Soundwave.

[You sound like you've either rehearsed this, or addressed the council before.]

[Both.]

Halogen stared directly at Soundwave as he spoke.

"So long as Megatron or any other decepticons draw breath, we remain at war."

['Till all are none.]

"What?"

"I believe," Perceptor interjected, "that this would be a unanimous decision amongst the High Council."

[Typical, coming from an all-autobot council.]

Ratchet, in all his wisdom, shoved Soundwave back suddenly.

"This isn't about you."

While the gesture had been horribly timed  _ and _ insulting, he was right.

"The decepticons," he pleaded, "aren't plotting against anyone anymore. There's nothing left to fight over! Hasn't enough energon been spilled!?"

Halogen responded again. "That doesn't change your status as a traitor and an enemy to the autobots."

"When have I  _ ever _ acted against the interests of the autobots!?"

"When you and Optimus Prime forced us to leave our homeworld."

"And we restored it! We risked our  _ lives _ to restore it! What else do I have to do to make up for that!?"

The councilors hesitated to respond, seeming thoroughly annoyed. Finally, it was Perceptor that broke the silence.

"We offered you the opportunity to redeem yourself by capturing the remaining decepticons, but you've refused to do that as well. However, you  _ do _ know the location of whatever base they occupy, don't you? If you reveal their location to us, we will clear your record."

Soundwave and Ratchet glanced at each other again, and for the first time, the decepticon saw sincerity in the medic's eyes. He said nothing to the autobot, even as Ratchet suddenly seemed to grow horribly conflicted. He did, indeed, know where the decepticon base was, and he held in his hands the power to seal their fate forever. An entire era could come to an end, and he could be restored to the status he deserved. But, as Soundwave continued to stare at him, he saw - he  _ felt _ , something from the autobot he hadn't expected; namely, trust. Ratchet knew in his spark that the High Council was corrupt, and that they were driving Iacon back to the same society he'd aimed to change in the first place. He didn't  _ want _ to live in their world. The decepticons, on the other hand, had helped him, and respected him more than the autobots did. They had granted him a part in a community that somehow didn't hate him for what he did during the war. The decepticons had  _ listened _ to him, something the High Council had never done.

Ratchet finally looked back at the councilors, clenching his hands into fists again as he looked down at the ground.

"I... refuse."

"I see," Halogen muttered. "Then I feel we have no choice but to ban you from ever returning to Iacon."

Ratchet's aura became laden with some horrible mixture of anger and sorrow, and he closed his eyes as he hung his head. Soundwave, on the other hand, looked back toward the councilors.

[Why did this punishment befall Ratchet and not Knockout as well?]

"That's a fair point," Halogen said. "He will be exiled as well."

Soundwave took a step back, partially in shock and partially in confusion. At the whim of a question, they send an autobot into exile? Soundwave wanted nothing to do with Knockout, except maybe to kill him for his treachery, but how could the council so passively change their minds about him?

Ratchet, seeming to ignore the exchange, spoke again, although he tried to hide his face as much as he could.

"At least... let me say goodbye to the team then. Surely you have the decency to grant me that much."

"... Very well. Guards, you are dismissed. We will send a groundbridge for your team shortly."

And, in but a moment, the group departed, leaving Ratchet and Soundwave alone, standing outside the gates of Iacon. Soundwave didn't want to say anything, considering the autobot was still in significant distress, but Ratchet had just defended the decepticons, at the expense of his own standing among the autobots. After a few minutes in silence, Ratchet finally looked over at him, though he still tried to hide his face.

"What was it you said? 'Till all are none?"

[Yeah.]

"Fitting."

Another moment passed in silence before Soundwave spoke again.

[Why?]

Ratchet seemed lost in thought, but finally looked up, staring toward the walls of Iacon.

"I... I would be trading lives for my own wellbeing. I would say that senseless killing is a decepticon thing, but... you're the nonviolent ones now. They're the ones peddling a dead war."

It took Soundwave a moment to think of an appropriate response.

[You... reminded me of something.]

He played a recording of a distraught voice, somewhat young.

["Even you with all your fucked up morals should be able to see that this is wrong. You're defending the guilty and punishing the innocent. So fine. Send me to Kaon, I don't care. But I want you there, to watch as I die, and I want you to know that it was you who killed me."]

Ratchet hesitated for a moment.

"Sounds like a familiar enough scenario. Who was that?"

[Me.]

Ratchet looked over at Soundwave in surprise, but before he could respond, a groundbridge portal opened up before them. Rather than delivering the other autobots Ratchet was expecting, Knockout was shoved through, stumbling forward and barely able to keep his balance as the portal closed behind him. He looked odd with blue eyes, and seemed off put as he glanced around him. His eyes fell onto Soundwave, and he froze.

"Ahhh... Hey..."

Ratchet crossed his arms as he stared at the red sportscar.

"So, how did 'joining the winning team' work out for you?"

"Well, there I was, minding my own business, when I get told, 'hey, you're being  _ exiled!'  _ What the scrap happened!?"

"They exiled me, too."

"You? The Optimus Prime wannabe?"

Before Ratchet could angrily respond, Soundwave deployed one of his tentacles and latched onto Knockout, lifting him up into the air. The sportscar grabbed at the appendage, suddenly seeming panicked as Soundwave spoke.

[This situation is much too extensive and stressful to explain to the likes of you right now. Ratchet is one of us, and I would rather deal with him than with you. You're only coming back with us because you have nowhere else to go, and your exile was partially my fault.]

"What?"

Soundwave dropped Knockout, sending him stumbling to the ground. He looked down at himself as he got to his feet, brushing dust off. Megatron would  _ not _ be happy to have him back, but Starscream might. In a dominating, suggestive way, of course. Ratchet elected to speak before Soundwave could continue.

"It was hypocrisy for the council to exile me for treason but keep you a citizen. So they exiled you."

"What, just like that? They decide on a whim to throw me out of the city?"

"Yeah."

Knockout seemed stunned for a moment, but felt the distraught auras of both other mechs, and so kept quiet.

A short time later, another groundbridge portal opened up, but this time several autobots stepped through. Arcee, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Smokescreen all stared toward Soundwave, but seeing as he did not react, they didn't either. Arcee was the first to speak, sounding both angry and curious.

"So, you going to tell us what's going on?"

Ratchet sighed, and the other autobots immediately seemed to grow sympathetic. Soundwave backed away, and Knockout followed out of fear.

"I told Smokescreen why I left. The decepticons helped me, but I don't want to work for Megatron."

Bulkhead chimed in, sounding curious. "And they just let you leave?"

"Yes, actually."

Ratchet glanced back at Soundwave for a moment before continuing.

"But, the council would only take me back as a citizen if I told them where the decepticon base was."

Wheeljack seemed almost angry as he responded.

"And you didn't!?"

"Well, they... have treated me more fairly than the autobots have."

"So," Smokescreen asked, "you're... leaving for good this time?"

"Yeah."

There were a few moments of silence, and Ratchet spoke again.

"I would... appreciate it if I wasn't the only autobot."

"Go with the decepticons?" Wheeljack scoffed. "No way."

Arcee glanced toward him before responding.

"I would, but... I can't guarantee I won't try to kill everyone."

Ratchet seemed to laugh momentarily. "Starscream wouldn't last a day."

Soundwave rolled his eyes, but it was probably true. Knockout looked up at him.

"Starscream's still alive? I shouldn't be surprised, but..."

The red figure sounded anxious, but Soundwave smiled. Watching Starscream's interactions with Knockout was terribly amusing. Knockout seemed all too willing to fall under the seeker's dominating nature, and Starscream seemed all too happy to gain a willing subordinate.

The autobots' conversation carried on, flowing from topic to topic, filled with nostalgia, until finally Ratchet looked back toward Soundwave and nodded slightly. The air went silent, and he summoned a groundbridge portal. Knockout stepped through the portal fairly quickly, seemingly just to get away from Soundwave, and the silent decepticon followed a moment later. He didn't want to intrude on anything Ratchet wanted to say to the others.

Upon arriving back in the Triad, Soundwave watched as Starscream strode up to Knockout, circling him and seeming to inspect him.

He already seemed happy to have his pet back.

Knockout stuttered, trying to back away from the seeker who followed him.

"Ah, it's... nice... to be back? Commander? Starscream?"

Starscream let out a quiet laugh as he straightened his posture, suddenly towering over Knockout considering he was actually quite a bit taller than him.

"You,  _ Knockout _ , have much to atone for."

Ratchet finally came through the portal and almost immediately retreated, already halfway to the door by the time Soundwave deactivated the groundbridge. It'd be best to leave him alone for now.

Starscream lifted a spindly hand, holding one razor sharp finger hovering over Knockout's precious finish as he spoke again, seeming to have gone without noticing Ratchet.

"And you  _ will _ atone for it all. Believe me. I'll  _ make _ you."

Knockout remained rigid, staring with panicked eyes at Starscream's display until the seeker finally stepped away, casting a malicious grin toward him before turning and walking off, glancing toward Soundwave as he did so.

"Clearly there's a lot that needs explaining," Starscream said with an amused tone. Soundwave nodded. Indeed, there was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, Ratchet saying "I refuse" actually made me squee, because it's like I was watching him do so.
> 
> Then, fun fact about Soundwave's recording of himself...  
> I've been planning, in tandem with this story, a sort of Soundwave origin story, of how he ever ended up as a gladiator in the first place. I hope to start a real attempt at writing it out sometime, but for now, it remains a collection of images and quotes in my head. That quote was actually something I came up with months ago for it, but like Soundwave, I remember it so vividly that I got to that scene and was reminded of it.  
> And... I hear a more feminine voice for Soundwave, maybe because I associate so strongly with him.
> 
> This was a pivot point I was waiting for and struggling to get to, so now... I'm not 100% sure what the next chapter will include, but it should go much faster. 38,000 words and I still haven't gotten to the fun part. And by fun I mean difficult and painful.


	11. Reset

The following weeks felt like only days; not because Soundwave was starved of energon, not because of fatigue, but for once, because so much was being done that it was genuinely difficult to keep track of it all. Crews worked day and night to rebuild the Triad and Javelin as they fused the two ships together, salvaging the other three, moving them, and continually extracting more and more energon from the caches Starscream had found.

Knockout's return was not well received by Megatron, but the flashy doctor had made himself useful enough drafting the plans for connecting the remaining ships, leaving Shockwave to his research.

Soundwave stood at the computer terminal on the bridge of the Triad, typing in several keystrokes and watching the screen, finding the response to be unexpected. He'd been working for days on connecting the Triad's computer network to the Javelin's, but something continued to block his progress. It wasn't the ship connection point, since he'd tested that. He'd tested the lines from the data core to the terminal on both vessels, but everything appeared fine.

He heard Megatron's footsteps approach him from behind, and he shifted his aura to one of warmth in response. The gladiator watched him, noting what he was doing. He ran a few more tests, finding no response that could explain what was going wrong. Finally Megatron spoke, resting his hands on Soundwave's shoulders as he did so.

"Trying to reach the Javelin?"

Soundwave merely tilted his head back, looking up at the gladiator behind him. Megatron failed to hide a hint of a smile as he looked away, speaking quietly considering the troops working around them.

"You look stupid when you do that."

Soundwave looked back at his terminal, letting out a quiet sigh. Megatron still held onto his shoulders, occasionally brushing the back of his neck with his thumbs. It didn't quite have the same hypnotic effect that it did when used on Megatron, but it still felt nice.

[I'm not sure what's going wrong.]

"Don't blame yourself too much. This equipment is ancient."

Soundwave looked up suddenly, realizing something.

[I should ask Ratchet.]

"What, the word 'ancient' automatically makes you think of Ratchet?"

Soundwave couldn't help but laugh slightly as he turned his head to look back toward the gladiator.

[No, but he's worked with even more ancient equipment before. 'Ancient' just makes me think of you.]

"Let's be honest though, what  _ doesn't? _ "

The silent decepticon stood motionless for a moment, trying to think of a response, until Megatron started laughing quietly.

"My point exactly."

[I'm not obsessed with you, I swear. I simply pledged my life to your service and followed you to the end of Cybertron and back. That's  _ clearly _ not the same thing.]

"Oh, sure. Completely different. One is what a reasonable, loyal follower would do, and the other is you."

The air went silent again for a moment, and Megatron let go of Soundwave.

"Are you done with this terminal?"

[Oh, yes. Sorry.]

Soundwave walked off, and Megatron stepped up to the terminal instead. As he strode through the halls of the Triad, it felt like the Nemesis all over again. Vehicons looked at him with respect as they passed, insecticons scurried along the ceiling above him, and everyone had something to be doing, somewhere to be going. He reached the seam between the Triad and Javelin, stepping between several vehicons welding parts together, and into the other ship. Despite the fact that both ships were decepticon built, and built at around the same time, the Javelin had a completely different atmosphere. Its colors were brighter, making it look almost sterile, but had narrower halls and doorways than the other ship.

He finally walked into one room, finding Ratchet putting supplies away.

[Is this your lab now?]

Ratchet turned to face him, jumping for a moment upon actually seeing him, as though startled by his presence.

"If no one else is going to put things away, then.. I guess so."

The autobot turned to put something in a cabinet on a shelf, then stood there for a moment, awkwardly glancing toward Soundwave every so often.

"Ah... did you... need something?"

[Your assistance would be appreciated.]

Although the initial conversation was awkward, Ratchet seemed happy to be given something specific to do. That is, if he could ever be happy. His personality exuded irritation, but he at least seemed relatively comfortable as he knelt beside access panels, checking the wiring and connection points. Soundwave stood beside a nearby console, running many of the same tests he'd run earlier. Every so often, Ratchet would seem to spot something, adjusting a few wires or switches, but he never said anything, and none of it appeared to do anything. Finally, he looked up at Soundwave.

"Did you use conductor relays from the Triad here?"

[Yes, why?]

"They're rated for different voltages."

Soundwave knelt down beside Ratchet, looking at the components previously hidden beneath the floor panel. Already he felt ashamed, having made such a simple mistake.

[I'm going to have to rewire so much of this now...]

"I don't think you have to replace all the relays, just the ones on this pathway."

Soundwave sat upright, looking down the hallway he'd have to disassemble in order to do so. Ratchet, seeing his annoyance, spoke again.

"Well, I can help with some of it. Can't Shockwave help you? What's he been working on, anyway?"

[Researching the planet, I think.]

"Pff. He can research that on the way... He's probably locked in his lab again, trying to poison himself while the rest of us scramble to work on a plan he came up with in the first place."

Soundwave merely turned to stare at the autobot.

[Why would he do that?]

Ratchet went silent for a moment, leaning away from him ever so slightly.

"Ah... I... said too much."

It was then that the reasoning clicked in his mind, and he looked away.

[I am aware of Shockwave's status. In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to poison himself.]

"So it was you?"

Soundwave looked over at Ratchet again, suppressing a sudden sense of shame from consuming him, while letting some of his aggravation bleed into his aura. The autobot seemed to back away as much as he could, considering the way Soundwave practically assaulted him with his silent stare.

"Not like I care... I just didn't-..."

Soundwave didn't shift at all, and Ratchet finally looked back down at the wires that lay before him.

"... I'll replace these for you."

[That would be appreciated.]

Soundwave stood up and walked out of the hallway, ignoring the annoyed sound Ratchet made in response. He had fully intended on replacing the relays himself, but the autobot had offered to do it himself, and Soundwave felt, somehow, that he deserved it. For what, exactly, was unclear.

 

In time, it turned out that Ratchet's suggestion was correct, and before long, the tests that had failed on the computer systems earlier now worked perfectly. Soundwave ran the last of these tests on the terminal in the lab, given the isolation, when Shockwave stepped into the room. As usual, he gave little acknowledgement, no more than a glance, and went over to the other corner to work on whatever he'd been working on. However, as he passed by, Soundwave looked up, noticing that his aura, rather than being quiet and neutral, was strangely warm, like the mental pressure of concealed joy. He looked over at the scientist, receiving no response considering he faced away from him, then finally stepped over beside him, watching what he was doing. Shockwave emanated a strange type of contentedness, though he ignored Soundwave's presence for at least a minute before the strength of his aura faded and he looked toward the other decepticon suddenly, his voice harsh.

"What?"

Soundwave took a step back, looking away as he took a minute to figure out how to respond.

[I was... basking in your presence.]

Shockwave stared at him, his posture relaxing, and it almost seemed possible to watch his mind work behind his single, static eye.

"I... made progress today... You may continue to bask if you wish."

[I don't normally need permission.]

"You distracted me to the point of irritation. People tend to feel that way when you hover next to them without saying anything."

For some reason, Soundwave suddenly felt the same comfortable warmth that Shockwave had seemed to exude. Maybe it was his voice. He stepped back toward the scientist, finding both their auras filled with a similar feeling. Soundwave rested his head against Shockwave's shoulder, whose aura briefly burned with a flash of horrible uneasiness. It soon returned to its previous warm state, and Soundwave closed his eyes. Occasionally, thoughts flowed through his mind of things to say, but he refrained, instead focusing on the minutia of the scientist's aura, considering it was a reflection of his spark. It was rather steady, never seeming to flicker, but subtle. For an electromagnetic field created by a spark, it seemed weak, or suppressed. All descriptions seemed to mirror Shockwave's overall character, but that only made sense.

Finally, Shockwave spoke, his voice almost a whisper, and as such, was rather comforting.

"I... need to work."

[Right now?]

"Are you so starved for attention that you must linger right now?"

[Is your working and my lingering mutually exclusive?]

The scientist's tone grew increasingly amused as he responded.

"Do you wish to distract me?"

[Would that be a bad thing?]

"May I answer your question with yet another question?"

[Aren't you logically opposed to such tautologies?]

Shockwave looked away for a moment.

"... Yes."

Briefly they stood beside each other, both radiating amusement. After a moment, Shockwave lifted a hand and placed it on the side of Soundwave's head. The silent decepticon stared into his unflinching gaze, and for a moment, it seemed as though it was actually possible for Shockwave to care about him beyond what was logical.

The door opened suddenly, and Starscream walked in.

"Shockwave, I-"

The seeker stopped in his tracks as the other two turned to face him, and after a moment, he started laughing.

"The vehicons were right about you two, weren't they?"

Neither Soundwave nor Shockwave moved, although the former stared at Starscream, trying to think of a response that wouldn't serve to deepen the hole they'd fallen into. The seeker started laughing again, and Shockwave shifted his stance slightly, but remained silent. He wasn't the type to become personally offended, but he certainly wasn't the type to take Starscream's belligerent tone either.

"So tell me, Shockwave, how is  _ this _ in any way logical?"

The seeker glanced toward Soundwave instead, his wings sinking back as his tone shifted to one more of disappointment.

"And you... I always thought you had... better taste."

What was that supposed to mean? Finally Shockwave stepped toward Starscream, causing him to flinch slightly as the scientist spoke.

"Enough. What is it you wanted from me?"

"So you're not denying anything?"

"I will only deny what is worthy of denial. I was aware of these rumors for some time. They are inconsequential."

"But they're true, aren't they?"

"They are still inconsequential."

Starscream took a step back, a smirk appearing on his face.

"So you  _ are  _ in love with Soundwave."

"Nonsense."

The silent decepticon finally crept forward, continuing to stare directly at Starscream.

[ _ That's _ not possible. And even if it were, I don't see why you'd care.]

The seeker straightened his posture, gesturing with one spidery hand.

"Because these sorts of things lend themselves to exploitation."

[So that's why your entire relationship with Megatron is borne solely out of convenience and  _ passionate _ hatred?]

Starscream gained a disgusted look for a moment, letting out a squeak in the midst of his stuttering.

"That's... moreso the other way around."

Shockwave began encroaching on the seeker's space, causing him to back away as the scientist spoke.

"If you have nothing of substance to offer, I suggest you leave."

"Just one thing... Why are you getting more energon than everyone else?"

Shockwave stopped, and Soundwave looked back toward the seeker.

[It's due to illness.]

"Mm... For two months though?"

Shockwave struck Starscream with his gun, sending him reeling back into the hallway. He closed the door and locked it, turning and striding toward Soundwave.

"That is  _ exactly _ why I did not want to receive increased rations."

[You were already beginning to starve, it wasn't much of a choice.]

They stared silently at each other for a moment, and Soundwave sent another message.

[You still never addressed that?]

"It is not that simple. I don't want this, but I am wholly uninformed on the subject. Critical periods of action have passed, and different methods are necessary."

Shockwave looked away, and Soundwave merely stared.

"I would kill it with my own hands if I could. After all, it fits the definition of a parasite. But I cannot."

[I realize that it would damage your pride, but...]

"I will not ask for guidance, or assistance. I trust no one else."

[Is that really logical?]

"... It may not be. But regardless, I still lack vital materials. Unless, of course, I merely consumed enough dark energon for it to be damaging."

Soundwave seemed stunned for a moment, moving his head back slightly, and Shockwave continued.

"But that would be counterproductive, so I won't."

[No, it's not that, exactly. It's that Ratchet said he thought you might do just that.]

"And why did you discuss this with him?"

[He brought it up.]

The scientist took a few steps toward Soundwave, prompting him to back away.

"Believe me, I am not neglecting this. I can't. Every day I am reminded that this... being continues to live despite my wishes. It  _ feeds _ off of me, and I want nothing more than to destroy it. But I am unable to."

Shockwave seemed to loom over Soundwave for a moment.

"So if you would, kindly avoid this subject."

Soundwave finally backed away, staring at the scientist for a few moments, but electing not to say anything and simply walking out of the room.

 

As he stepped outside, he was again surrounded by the activity around him. After all, now four of the five ships were together, one had been fully attached to the Triad, and all of this was progressing quickly enough to where it looked as though they might be able to launch within the original window Shockwave had set. It was strange how, even when things were going as planned, it still seemed easy to forget just what they were working toward. The planet the insecticons called Sanctum was out there somewhere, slowly drifting into their reach. This ship was being built in order to reach it, but then what? Would they claim the planet? Would they need to defend it? Would they try to repopulate?

This ship was really only a motivation for the decepticons; something to work on, something tangible. After eons spent in war, what would be enjoyable about a stagnant society?

Soundwave looked over, noticing two insecticons staring at him. There could never just be one, could there?

"May we send a representative to your meetings?"

It took him a moment to realize that, for the most part, insecticons had never really had a voice in those meetings.

[Of course. Is there something in particular you want to address?]

"We would like to use all or part of the Voulge as our hive. It is of a reasonable size and construction, and you could use the portions we would remove from it."

Soundwave glanced between the two, finding yet again that the insecticons were far more civilized that common knowledge made them out to be.

[You may discuss it at the next meeting, but that decision is up to Megatron.]

"Thank you,  _ maki. _ "

Soundwave tilted his head, and the other insecticon glanced at his brethren, then back toward the other decepticon.

"It... means ally."

The bugs wandered off, and Soundwave soon did so as well.

 

For a while he patrolled the area, wandering and watching the progress made on the ships. The troops that noticed him glanced at him with some respect and some fear, but most failed to notice him in the first place. He watched the efforts made on connecting the Apex Sirion to the Triad, wandered past troops organizing supplies, turned around as soon as he found Starscream, and ended up in a rather large room to find Steelwing amongst a group of vehicons, sitting on the floor in several groups. As Soundwave approached, he found each one to be completing a different task, taking dusty heaps of metal and combining them with salvaged components. He stepped forward, catching the attention of some of the troops, one of whom looked toward Steelwing.

"Commander?"

The silver form had been working on something of his own behind a desk when the vehicon caught his attention. He glanced toward the voice, then over toward Soundwave, almost immediately seeming startled and stepping around the table, saluting.

"Soundwave, what brings you here?"

Steelwing looked very different from when he'd been given his name. While the red marks had originally been paint added over his finish, now the markings were sharper, clearly outlined, and shimmered in the light. His head had changed, with several spikes pointing down off the back of his head, and a slightly different shaped visor. He seemed to notice Soundwave's gaze, and spoke again.

"I had Knockout redo my paint. So..."

[What's going on here?]

"Oh, this... we took some equipment and stuff from the old tower, I figured we might be able to repair equipment from the ships with whatever components work from the tower's equipment, and vice versa. It's yielded a lot of hand tools."

He gestured to a stack of boxes filled with various pieces of equipment.

"These guys are the part of my group resting from all the hard labor they were doing."

Soundwave glanced at the vehicons as they worked, then back at Steelwing, hiding a faint smile behind his visor.

[You're quite resourceful.]

"You... really think so?"

[Your salvage efforts are certainly more efficient.]

"I just figured... these guys needed something to do. So... did you... need something?"

[I'm only observing.]

"Oh..."

The silver figure looked back at his group, then took a breath before speaking again.

"This might sound stupid, but where does Starscream get his missiles from?"

Soundwave could only stare for a moment, considering that question threw him off.

[I presume he keeps extras somewhere.]

"You don't know?"

[I don't tend to pay him much attention.]

Steelwing started laughing for a moment, although he stopped himself fairly quickly.

"Sorry, that was just... funny."

One of the vehicons nearest to Steelwing looked up toward him.

"Soundwave made you laugh? What did he say?"

Soundwave turned his stare toward the vehicon, silencing him and prompting him to turn away a moment later. He looked back toward the silver and red figure, who suddenly seemed much more nervous than before.

[Please continue being resourceful. I was right to suggest granting you a name.]

He turned and walked back out of the room, smiling behind his visor again, able to tell by the way the room quieted that he'd managed to frighten everyone in it. It wasn't usually his intention to be unnerving to other decepticons, but he was quite good at it, and it was occasionally useful.

 

As he returned to his quarters later, he sat down on his berth, barely waiting to take his visor off, when he noticed a datapad resting on the desk that he didn't remember placing there. With one of his cables he brought it to his hand, and switched it on to find a message written on it.

 

"I want no record of this on communication logs, thus the archaic method of conveying this.

I am sorry about earlier events. I place no blame on you, even though you are the source of this entire situation.

Though it is greatly illogical, if I am to be honest with both you and myself, I must resign to the fact that I do hold an unfounded preference toward you. You are the only person who has ever desired to bask in my presence.

But, please do not take this to mean more than it does. You have more of a spark than I do. I may enjoy your company, but my spark died long ago, and I no longer possess the capacity for such affection as you grant me."

 

Soundwave looked up, thinking for a moment before putting his visor back on and walking out of his room. He traced Shockwave's signal back to what he figured were his own quarters, and stood at the door a short time later. Considering it was unlocked, he opened it without a second thought, finding Shockwave to be sitting on a storage crate at a desk, reading something on another datapad. He looked up as Soundwave approached and placed the other tablet beside his. The scientist seemed flustered as he spoke.

"Uh... did I offend you?"

[I'm not mad. Your message just seemed somewhat contradictory.]

Shockwave seemed to retreat into his own personal space, considering Soundwave was invading the rest of his.

"Then what brings you here?"

That was a good question. Soundwave knew he had to come here, but he wasn't entirely certain why. Noticing this, Shockwave stood up, stepping toward him.

"That was an unanswerable question, wasn't it?"

With that, he wrapped his arms around Soundwave, holding one hand to the back of his head. The silent decepticon suddenly froze, overwhelmed with a flurry of different thoughts, before finally returning the gesture, trying to think of how to respond.

[You don't need to justify all your actions. I don't really even care if you love me or not, so long as this remains enjoyable.]

"I don't."

[I know. I don't either.]

It was very quiet, but Shockwave started to laugh ever so slightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This stuff writes itself so I'm amused by that last bit too.  
> "I don't love you."  
> "I don't either."  
> ":3"
> 
> Also I finally broke 40,000 words. I know I keep saying this, but... now I can really get to the fun part.


	12. Eight People in a Room

As expected, an insecticon showed up to the progress meeting the following day, although neither Megatron nor Starscream had actually been informed about it.

Soundwave and Shockwave had been the first to arrive in the room, mostly considering their proximity to it, and were idly discussing ideas for the computer systems when Megatron walked in. He glanced at them as he took his usual spot on the inside of the table's curve, seeming to hesitate before speaking.

"Do you always sit next to each other?"

Soundwave nodded, and Megatron looked up to watch as Starscream entered the room as well, immediately looking toward Soundwave and Shockwave and letting out a quiet laugh.

"Of course they sit next to each other, it all makes sense now."

The gladiator glanced toward Starscream with a curious look, prompting him to continue.

"Their little tryst has been going on for quite some time, it seems."

Briefly, Megatron's eyes flickered over to Soundwave, then back to the seeker.

"You believe rumors the vehicons spread?"

Shockwave placed his gun arm on the table, concerning himself with the information displayed on its panel. Starscream stared toward the scientist, seemingly trying to grab his attention.

"I believe Shockwave."

"Why does any of this matter?"

Starscream looked toward Megatron, almost looking insulted as he took his seat. Oddly enough, the room went silent as Ratchet and Steelwing entered. While Steelwing looked proud and energetic, Ratchet seemed dejected, resting his head in one hand and staring off into space. Perhaps the events at Iacon still weighed on him...

When the insecticon approached the table, however, Megatron looked up at him, almost seeming confused as he spoke.

"Is there something you need?"

"I am the representative of the Master Hive."

"... And?"

"I am here for the meeting."

"Nonsense!" Starscream spat. "No one gave you permission to show up here!"

The insecticon looked toward Soundwave, who sent a message solely to him.

[Take your stand. Don't mind them.]

The bug looked back toward Starscream, letting out an annoyed clicking sound, then turned toward Megatron.

"Actually, Soundwave granted me permission."

Megatron and Starscream suddenly stared at him, both looking confused. Megatron spoke, hiding his apprehension well.

"I... was not informed of this."

[I didn't presume you'd object.]

The gladiator let out a sigh as his eyes narrowed. He knew Soundwave was lying, and he knew exactly why. Megatron  _ would _ have objected to having an insecticon at the meeting, so this was the most possibly aggravating way for Soundwave to supersede his authority.

"Very well then."

The insecticon moved two of the chairs back and merely sat on the floor next to Soundwave, nodding slowly to him. Knockout entered the room a moment later, and immediately Soundwave noticed that his eyes had changed back to red. It looked  _ much _ better on him than autobot blue. The red figure glanced toward Starscream, finding the seeker to be eying him quite intensely, and instead took the spot farthest from him as possible, directly next to the insecticon.  _ That  _ was quite the statement.

"In that case," Megatron said as he began his usual subtle pacing about, "Estimated progress on the ships has risen above 50% now. Estimated time of completion is two weeks before the start of the launch window. That leaves time for... possible unexpected incidents."

He meant time for fixing inevitable mistakes, but he didn't want to say so. He turned to Soundwave, gesturing toward him, and the silent decepticon offered his own words.

[We're still working on the computer systems. As such, request handlers are still slow. There's been an abundance of duplicate requests submitted because some people will issue the submission more than once in the false assumption that the server isn't responding. So, please give the servers more time to process requests. This isn't the Nemesis, unfortunately, and my equipment needs improvement.]

Knockout, of all people, responded.

"Pff, how many people are trying to submit work logs that it's slowing down the whole system?"

[On the Nemesis there were about 8 processor cores for every person, here there are about 12 people to every one core.]

"Hm."

Either Knockout didn't know what he was talking about, or he didn't care. Probably both. Megatron looked toward Shockwave, who shook his head subtly. Finally he turned to the insecticon waiting before him.

"Fine, what is it?"

"We would like permission to alter part of the Voulge for use as our hive."

"Why pick the Voulge?"

"Its structure lends itself well to insecticon use."

"And how would you be altering it?"

"Mostly it would mean removing walls to make larger spaces."

"Why?"

"Your kind doesn't use ceilings the way insecticons do. You have a need for everything to be segmented, segregated, and it wastes space."

"So you believe altering the Voulge for your use will make it a more efficient use of that space?"

"... Yes, master."

Megatron looked toward Soundwave again.

"I can only assume you support this."

Soundwave nodded, but Shockwave looked up toward the gladiator.

"I will need to look over the plans to ensure that structural stability remains."

Megatron glanced at the scientist in acknowledgement before looking back toward the insecticon.

"How long do you believe this would take?"

"We... already began removing some components from the vessel. Nothing major. I would not expect it to take long."

Megatron let out a quiet sigh as he stared at the bug.

"Fine. You may alter the Voulge as you see fit. Within Shockwave's guidance, of course."

"Thank you. That goes for the maki as well."

Shockwave and Soundwave both looked over at the insecticon, emanating inquisitive auras. The insecticon responded, clearly with hesitance.

"The insecticons have not been granted this type of representation before."

Knockout stood up to respond, almost laughing as he did so.

"Because your entire race is just composed of mindless brutes! What would representation give you!?"

"If we were  _ mindless _ brutes, we would have killed you by now."

"You see! That's what I mean!"

Megatron held up a hand, and both parties quieted, Knockout sitting back down again.

"Quit your petty bickering... I am obliged to heed the requests of the insecticon hives, if not solely because they now compose the majority of the decepticon population."

Megatron turned to Steelwing, holding his hands behind him as though the previous argument had not occurred.

"Anything to report regarding the Javelin?"

"Engine repairs are almost complete. It was really just extensive maintenance. Weapons are functional."

"Weapons? Anything of practical use?"

"Ah... the only thing I can think of is a laser that might work for mining."

"Hmm... Any disruptor cannons?"

"No."

Shockwave spoke rather unexpectedly.

"I hadn't invented them by the time the Javelin was built."

Ratchet looked toward him, seemingly surprised.

"That was your idea?"

Starscream looked up at the autobot, then glared over toward Shockwave.

"Actually, it was mine."

"Wait..." Ratchet muttered.

"I created the  _ original _ Null Ray design, but  _ some _ one stole my research."

Shockwave turned to stare directly at Starscream as he responded.

"I supplanted your design."

"With no acknowledgement, as evidenced by your still claiming to have invented the disruptor cannon."

"Your research formed the basis for the later Null Ray designs, but the disruptor cannon constituted a fundamental design shift, which is rightfully my concept."

"Starscream," Megatron muttered, agitated to the point of holding a hand to his face, "if I hear your rant about weapons research  _ one more time _ ..."

"It was  _ my _ concept!"

Shockwave actually started to sound annoyed, though the shift in tone was probably only perceivable to Soundwave.

"The only similarity between those designs are the fundamental concepts of isolated electromagnetic disruption fields. No one owns properties of physics."

" _ Please, _ " Megatron pleaded, " _ enough _ about weapons research."

He looked around at the room's occupants, eventually settling on Ratchet.

"What have you been working on?"

"Mostly... scattered tasks. Knockout took over the junction plans."

"Shockwave, what could he be doing?"

The scientist briefly looked at his arm panel, then up toward Ratchet.

"The task most fitting to your... experience is augmentation of the computer systems."

Ratchet nodded, casting a suspicious looking glance toward Soundwave for some reason. Megatron continued, still looking toward Shockwave.

"And what have you been working on?"

"Varied forms of research on the energon planet."

"Anything of interest?"

"Not yet."

Starscream rested his head in one hand as he leaned his weight on the table.

"What are we going to  _ do _ with the planet, anyway?"

Shockwave looked toward him.

"Cyberform it, exploit its natural resources, colonize it."

"So it's the exodus all over again, except we're leaving Cybertron because it's alive."

"Do you object to this?"

Starscream let out a quiet sound as he looked away. Awkwardly, Megatron glanced around the room again, letting out a sigh before speaking.

"Unless anyone else has something insightful to offer..."

The insecticon hesitantly replied in the tense silence that followed.

"Will we be allowed at future meetings?"

Megatron turned to face him, looking curious.

"Why would you want to?"

"As I stated before, it is rare the insecticons are granted this type of representation..."

"Because you never make requests of me like this."

"... Perhaps that's because we haven't been granted the opportunity."

Knockout groaned as he again interjected.

"Ugh, you already get a whole ship, what else do you want?"

"Respect from  _ kyxra  _ like you, to start with."

"Sure, like I haven't been called a kyxra before."

"The term is still accurate."

"I think," Steelwing, of all people, added, "that if the insecticons get a ship of their own, they should be able to represent themselves."

"And who asked you?" Knockout said, his eyes conveying both frustration and apathy toward the silver figure. Soundwave briefly looked over toward Shockwave, sending him a message.

[Do you know what kyxra means?]

[It has a few meanings from different time periods, as far as I know. I think here it's the more archaic meaning for pure chordates, specifically those that try to suppress the insecticon race.]

Steelwing somewhat returned Knockout's angry stare.

"I'm just trying to keep the discussion on topic for once."

He looked up to find Megatron staring calmly at him, seemingly watching how he handled the scenario. Knockout glanced at the insecticon beside him, then back over toward Steelwing.

"This  _ is _ on topic. These brutes are overconfident, prideful, and I don't see how giving them a whole ship helps at all!"

Soundwave sighed silently beneath his visor. The scraplet trap was just opened, and someone was going to get devoured. Shockwave looked over at him, moving ever so slightly closer, just so he could feel the amusement in his aura.

Steelwing cast a fleeting glance toward Megatron as he responded.

"What makes them brutes, exactly? They're a warrior race but they're not uncivilized..."

"Their being a warrior race is what  _ makes _ them brutes! All they care about is fighting and bragging about strength and-"

The insecticon pushed Knockout aside somewhat, glancing between him and Steelwing.

"If you believe us to be brutes, then we might counter that by  _ answering for ourselves. _ "

Knockout shoved his claw away, clearly furious.

"Why can't you even say 'I' or 'me' like a regular person!?"

Shockwave spoke, suddenly catching the gaze of everyone else in the room.

"Insecticon culture is rife with collective identity. Besides, this insecticon is speaking for all of the hive."

"Do you at least have a name?" Knockout asked, looking toward the bug. Shockwave responded again, the apathetic tone of his voice seeming to calm the whole room down.

"Insecticons don't typically give their names to those outside the hive."

In response, the insecticon let out a low, quiet purr for a moment.

"Of course the Oracle understands."

"He's not your oracle!"

"Yes, I am."

Knockout looked toward Shockwave, seeming thoroughly confused.

"You actually believe the stories they make up about you?"

"No, but there is more to the title of Oracle than prescience, or finding the energon planet. It is a symbol of respect, especially if granted to one not insecticon. I find that most decepticons have preconceived notions about insecticons and their society, and the content of this meeting has only cemented that hypothesis."

Shockwave glanced toward Ratchet, gesturing to him.

"Even autobots have been treated more fairly here than the insecticons have."

The autobot retreated back into his chair as much as he could.

"I... don't want to be dragged into this..."

"My point being, insecticons are a different species, but they are still cybertronian. It is both vain and idiotic to suggest otherwise."

"Idiotic..." Knockout muttered. "Bit of an accusation, coming from you."

"So would calling you kyxra."

The room went completely silent, and Soundwave looked over at Shockwave, somewhat stunned at what he'd just said. Finally Megatron held up a hand as he spoke.

"Alright, enough of this nonsense. All of you, get out."

One by one, each person in the room awkwardly shuffled out, starting with Knockout and ending with Starscream. Soundwave and Shockwave walked side by side in silence, wandering back toward the lab, although both their auras conveyed the awkward sense that there was something they wanted to say. Neither one so much as sent a silent message though, at least until the door to the lab closed behind them. Finally, it was Soundwave who spoke.

[That was amazing.]

"Hm?"

[You essentially called Knockout a racist, to his face. Why do you defend the insecticons?]

"They're worthy of defense. And I am obliged to."

[As the oracle?]

"As a person."

Soundwave could only stare for a moment. How had he never truly interacted with Shockwave for all those years they'd worked alongside each other? How was Shockwave so fascinating, so unexpectedly perfect?

[I've never-...]

He was about to say he'd never loved him as much as he did right then, but something stopped him. Namely, the message Shockwave had given him. "Do not take this to mean more than it does." What  _ was _ this if not mutual affection? Besides, Soundwave himself had just yesterday said he  _ didn't _ love Shockwave.

That wasn't possible.

"... Yes?"

He found the scientist staring at him, curiously and hesitantly asking what he was going to say.

[... I've never really thought of this whole thing with the insecticons as being racism until now.]

That was also true.

"Reading about insecticon history helps to make that determination, though it is never easy to admit you're prejudiced. Cognitive dissonance has a way of hiding the truth. But logic usually leads to that assertion."

Soundwave looked away, suddenly detached from the conversation. Why had he almost said what he did? What sort of emotional torrent had even possessed him to do so, anyway? The clarity of apathy made his previous state seem like misguided hope. He didn't love Shockwave. He couldn't. Still, at what point did affection become love?

Soundwave glanced toward the scientist, who had started reading something on a computer terminal, and walked out of the room. These thoughts always possessed him, consumed his mind to temporary insanity; seeing what wasn't there, believing in impossible things.

It wasn't possible for him to love Shockwave.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit shorter than most of my chapters. Even though I felt begrudged that I needed to do this for plot reasons, it ended up being really fun to write, since 90% of it was improvisation.  
> Just wanted to include more Steelwing because even I don't know who the hell he is.  
> Next chapter will also be amazingly fun, hopefully.


	13. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have two specific songs used for parts of this which are both quite obscure.  
> Section with Shockwave - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uXZhfloZyk  
> Ship launch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HlAuH4lPOg
> 
> ... I know, using kirby music for a transformers story. Don't get me started.

Although it was initially strange and a subject of friction, the same insecticon from that prior meeting began showing up regularly. He did not speak most of the time, and usually had very little to say when he did, but gradually, the prospect of having him there seemed less and less unusual. As each day progressed, however, Soundwave watched Knockout pick various spots further and further from the insecticon, and eventually end up beside Starscream.

He would have liked to watch their interactions more, but so much was being done that he didn't even have time. The projected completion date of two weeks before the launch window was fairly consistent as progress continued, spanning a very hectic several weeks. And as the date finally began to approach, the air throughout the ship was drowned in apprehension. The launch of a ship was something that  _ had _ to be done right the first time, no part moreso than the control systems. As such, Soundwave, Shockwave and Ratchet all shifted focus to it, running every possible conceivable test to make sure the systems were functioning.

They were rather lucky that they weren't building from scratch, as that would have taken considerably longer, but with the method they used, the conglomerate of ships took shape rather abruptly, especially once the final ship, the Alterium, was attached to its neighbors, sitting at the front of the vessel. In a matter of days, the area went from being three ships sitting next to each other, to one contiguous form. Even this amalgamation was not quite to the scale of the Nemesis, but it was more than suited to what they needed to accomplish.

Soon, the launch date loomed over their heads, just days away, and new progress slowed, giving way to meticulous testing. All manner of mechanical error was filtered from the system, and Soundwave had begun the arduous task of running final tests. Having spent most of his time in the Triad, he barely realized that he'd never stepped foot into the Alterium until Megatron led him to the bridge. It was the newest ship by comparison, and so its halls had some of the same decorative elements as the Nemesis. But as the doors opened and he laid eyes upon the ship's bridge, he froze.

The room looked almost exactly like the bridge of the Nemesis. The front display was massive, curving down beneath the raised platform the main terminal sat on. It seemed like a waste of space now, but the panoramic window and the floating platform were greatly immersing, and had always been a favorite of his. Megatron looked back toward Soundwave, for a moment questioning why he'd stopped, then smiling.

"I figured you'd like it."

Soundwave stepped into the room, finding most of it to be, basically, a scaled down version of the Nemesis. He walked up to the center console, brushing his hand across its keypad. The screens came to life at his touch, and several windows appeared on the display, somewhat covering the scene of Cybertron that rested before him. Megatron stood behind him, watching him with some degree of satisfaction in his aura. Soundwave began reorganizing some things on the console, sending a message to the gladiator as he did so.

[Did you have to remodel this whole room?]

"No, actually. It was already fairly similar. This ship actually provided a lot of design elements that the Nemesis used later on."

Soundwave couldn't help letting traces of joy fill his aura. Finally, it felt like he'd actually accomplished something. No longer was this just a computer, or just a ship. Now a living being rested beneath his hands, waiting and ready for his command. He looked back at Megatron, and for a moment they stood basking in their mutual pride.

Starscream stepped in, glancing around the room for a moment, then toward Soundwave as he wandered over and stopped beside Megatron.

"Looks good."

[Indeed.]

The three stood at the end of the platform, staring silently at the landscape outside. A mixture of emotions seemed to fill the air; joy at seeing the decepticons once again rise out of adversity, nostalgia upon seeing the war-torn land outside, solemnity at the thought that they would be abandoning their home. Finally Starscream let out a content sigh, looking toward the other two.

"So does this whole thing get one name?"

That was a good point. No one, in their flurry of tasks, had thought of what the ship would be named. The thing was, the ships were connected by existing docking ports, so they could split off if need be. Megatron looked over at Soundwave with a faint smile.

"We could name it Nemesis II."

Starscream held a hand to his hip as he glanced out the window again.

"Mm, I like Alterium more. I mean, I like Apex Sirion more, but that's off to one end, so..."

"It seems like it would be confusing to have two ships with the same name."

[Nemesis II would look nice painted on the side but it seems unoriginal.]

Starscream laughed for a moment.

"We're all such damn perfectionists."

"I only suggested it because Soundwave loved that ship like nothing else."

[It's a perfect ship.]

"Ah," the seeker muttered, "it  _ is _ a prime example of utilitarian art. Designed by Hailstorm, took design elements from Kaon-style architecture..."

The other two mechs looked toward him with curious glances.

"What?"

"You seem... informed."

"I read."

It should have seemed strange, the way these three still stood here after all this time, all this war, but Soundwave closed his eyes, letting himself instead be surrounded by the auras of the other two, listening to their voices.

They were the original decepticons. And despite the endless turmoil that raged between Megatron and Starscream, these three had somehow stayed together through an entire war, the loss of a planet, victory and defeat.

The seeker shifted his weight slightly, succumbing to his need to fill the silence with idle conversation.

"But, yes, the Nemesis was a work of art. I could see naming this ship after it... but personally I'd go with a synonym."

Megatron laughed as he responded.

"Nemesis Prime."

"Ugh, no."

"Besides, 'prime' would denote something better."

"We need a suffix that means, 'it's good, but it's not as good.'"

"Like mediocre?"

"Yeah, sure, like  _ that _ works for a ship name."

They both emanated amusement, and Soundwave turned back to the console, looking up a list of ship names and displaying it on the main screen. They were split by whether the ships were autobot or decepticon, and the three mechs looked up at the list for a while. Megatron broke the silence after a moment.

"Why have I never heard of Secutor before?"

Starscream seemed to stare at the list for a second before responding.

"That one. Its maiden voyage lasted three days."

"Ah."

Soundwave tilted his head as he gazed at the list, thinking of various names. Starscream muttered something a moment later.

"The Harbinger was a good ship too..."

[How about Erebus?]

"Hmm..."

Megatron replied, his aura turning content.

"Erebus. It's vague, but it works."

"What does that even mean?"

[I'm... not certain. Entropy. Chaos. Equilibrium.]

Starscream gained a subtle smile as he looked back out into the distance.

"Yeah..."

Megatron and Soundwave looked back toward the window, watching the sun as it began to set. The silent moment that followed felt like time had frozen, and Soundwave made a conscious effort to remember it. This was something he wanted to immortalize; this sense of unity between the decepticons. Not the war, not their endless schisms, but this collective pride.

This was how he wanted to remember them.

The orange glow began to fade, giving way to blue twilight, and Soundwave finally turned around, walking between Megatron and Starscream to leave the room. He briefly stopped upon hearing the door shut behind him, given that he didn't exactly know his way around the Alterium, but soon recalled the path he'd taken to get there, and followed it back to the Triad.

As expected, when he returned to the lab, Shockwave lingered in the corner, looking through a microscope. He must have known it was Soundwave who walked in, given that he had no response or reaction to it. The silent decepticon occupied himself for a minute with organizing some of the objects he hadn't realized he'd left scattered, but looked toward Shockwave again.

[Have you seen the bridge?]

The scientist remained silent as he continued to adjust and stare through the microscope. Soundwave stepped over toward him, not necessarily wishing to be distracting, but wanting to know what held his attention. He looked at the slide as much as he could given that he kept his distance from Shockwave, but he couldn't be sure what was on it.

[What is that?]

Shockwave jumped back slightly, clearly startled upon noticing Soundwave's presence finally, looking toward him and promptly letting out a quiet sigh, holding his gun arm with his other hand.

"I'm... sorry, I was rather absorbed in my work."

[I can see that. What were you looking at?]

"The crystalline structure of dark energon."

They stood in silence for a moment, and Shockwave turned off the microscope, gazing off to one side as he stood, as though awkwardly awaiting an escape. Finally Soundwave spoke.

[Come with me to the spring.]

"... Now?"

[It's not like we'll have many other opportunities.]

"Only if your criteria is this specific oil spring."

[It's a nice place.]

"... True."

Shockwave looked off into the distance, seeming to think of something. The silent form remained beside him, watching, lingering awkwardly, finally stepping toward the door in the hope that Shockwave would follow. Fortunately, he did, and the two wandered through the ship, heading toward the transport room.

Soundwave often wondered, as he walked alongside the scientist past the vehicons, what they thought. Obviously they had generated rumors of their affair before it had even become a reality, but what had the troops seen in them? What did they see now? Though, the better question now was how much Starscream had told them. As much as Soundwave wanted to believe he didn't care what the vehicons thought of him, his reputation was greatly important.

With a thought, he activated the groundbridge, and the two decepticons stepped through. Shockwave looked around for a moment, considering the portal hadn't led them directly to the spring. Soundwave glanced at him as he kept walking.

[I don't want those coordinates in groundbridge logs.]

This seemed a good enough answer, considering the scientist had no response. The building wasn't too far, but even in the short time it took for them to get there, the temperature had started to drop considering the lack of sunlight. Thus, once they reached the spring, Soundwave found the oil comfortably warm by comparison, and wasted no time in submerging himself in it. Shockwave seemed to hesitate, looking up through a hole in the ceiling for a moment, but soon took his place beside the other decepticon. Still, he continued to stare through the ceiling, looking up at the stars. Soundwave followed, and for some time they merely sat beside one another, the only sources of light in a dark room, and gazed up at the night sky. Soundwave glanced over at the scientist for a moment, reaching over to take his hand as he spoke.

[Is the energon planet visible from here?]

The question had been genuine, but he also, somehow, still felt as though he needed to distract from the physical contact. It seemed Shockwave felt the same way, given that he responded as he adjusted his hand to let his fingers interlace with Soundwave's.

"Not without a telescope. But it would be visible through that gap in the ceiling."

Soundwave continued to stare again. Somewhere in that visible sliver of black was a planet that had captured their devotion, their future. And even though that sliver of black was minute compared to the endless sky that surrounded him, it still contained an endless expanse of space; filled with more galaxies than could be explored with all the time the universe had before it decayed into heat death.

He smiled behind his visor. Suddenly Cybertron seemed insignificant. Everything was petty compared to the vastness of space.

[The cybertronian race has only really explored two planets... either the rest of our kind is shortsighted, or we're the only ones who've ever wanted to see more.]

"Both are accurate. I sided with the decepticons moreso because you provided more of an opportunity to assist my research than because I sided with your morals."

[Only now is that paying off...]

"No, there was much gained from the war. At the cost of those lives, both sides made significant strides in innovation. Some has been lost, but I believe there to be a net gain. This is merely the first time I'm aware of anyone leaving Cybertron to explore for the sake of exploration."

[This was all your idea, you know.]

Shockwave looked at him, seeming to ponder this for a moment.

"... And I am grateful that no one has challenged it."

Soundwave closed his eyes for a moment, basking in the warmth of Shockwave's aura. He'd only felt that type of warmth from Megatron on occasion, but it seemed misplaced coming from the scientist. Yet, that was one feeling Soundwave believed impossible to manufacture.

Shockwave really did enjoy his company.

He looked back toward the scientist, gradually moving just slightly closer to him.

[Do you have a favorite subject?]

"In study?"

[Yeah.]

Shockwave looked back up toward the ceiling, letting out a pensive sigh.

"Possibly... evolutionary biology. I regret not studying the humans. That was a tremendous opportunity wasted because of war. After all... physics and chemistry are relatively well understood. Those laws are consistent throughout the entirety of the universe. But the laws of nature are remarkably fluid. Every time you find a condition under which you believe nothing may survive, something crawls out from beneath the ashes, not only surviving, but thriving. Science works in the unknown, progressing a bit further every time it realizes it was wrong. Life is the ultimate unknown, and we are always wrong. Most would find that demoralizing, but so long as there is something I do not know, I am willing to devote my life to discovering it."

Soundwave hesitated for a moment before responding.

[That was... awfully poetic.]

"There is no way to describe the natural world which is not somewhat poetic."

[Are you sure you're incapable of emotion?]

That had been something of a joke, but Shockwave's aura turned quiet as he responded.

"No."

Soundwave looked over at him, merely staring for a moment. The scientist glanced at him briefly, then looked back up at the stars.

His mind began to churn through a whole host of thoughts momentarily, most of them familiar, about whether or not it was possible for Shockwave to love him, and what it meant if he did. But as he looked back at the red light that stared up into the sky, this flurry of thoughts suddenly stopped.

Who  _ cared _ about whether it was love? This time he spent with Shockwave was enjoyable, and that was all that really mattered. He liked being around someone as rational as him, who didn't feel any need to alter his behaviour to match a societal standard. He liked the fact that Shockwave always had something interesting to explain, and how he explained it. He liked how comfortable they always seemed to be in the other's presence, even if they remained completely silent. He even liked that Shockwave claimed not to love him; it was both honest and evidently untrue. But it didn't matter what such a thing was called. It was all irrelevant minutia.

Soundwave shifted his weight, turning to face the scientist and holding one hand to his head, turning it to look at him. Shockwave's aura went silent as he hesitated to respond.

"... What are you doing?"

Soundwave failed to respond as he moved again, this time resting his weight across Shockwave's legs, holding his head in both hands and gently pressing his visor to it. The scientist's aura burned with uneasiness for a moment, and Soundwave sent a message.

[Maybe I'm just  _ really _ interested in the details of your face.]

After a moment, Shockwave's aura calmed.

"If that were true, this would be the least effective way of studying it."

The scientist reached up to place his hand on the side of Soundwave's head, his fingers brushing against one of the latches to his visor. Reflexively, Soundwave grabbed his wrist, but hesitated for a moment. Then, with a subtle, nervous sigh, he let it go. Shockwave moved his hand, speaking quietly.

"I actually didn't mean that."

[It's fine. Go ahead.]

"If you truly felt comfortable with me seeing your face, you would have shown me before now."

Soundwave stared at him for a moment, genuinely surprised by the response.

[You... aren't curious?]

"No, I still am. But I won't pressure you."

[... You really are the best person.]

Soundwave leaned his weight forward across Shockwave, embracing him as he rested his head on the scientist's shoulder, pressing his face into what little of a neck he had. Shockwave finally seemed to relax, letting himself sink back slightly, holding Soundwave to him.

There was something about the way they both glowed the same color violet, lines distorted slightly by the oil, that just seemed perfect. Plates of metal reflected everything, creating a mesmerizing canvas of dimly glowing light. This wasn't where Soundwave had expected this to go, but it was much nicer than he'd been expecting.

 

The last two days before the launch were much less hectic than one would have envisioned, aside from obsessive energon mining. With most of the systems already triple checked, most daily efforts turned to resource gathering; troops scoured the remains of the old tower once again, picking up anything that seemed like it could be salvaged or even repurposed. Other crews finished harvesting the last of the raw energon from the deposits Starscream had found, though, for now, they made no effort to even process the ore, considering they'd have plenty of time to do so once they launched.

But finally, the day came. Most of the day was concerned with, once again, making sure the ship controls worked, and that they had enough supplies to last the voyage. But inevitably, the moment of truth arrived, and Soundwave stood before the main console, his eyes closed as he listened to the chatter around him.

There were a great many steps required to prepare a ship for launch, most of which involved starting and warming up each of the ship's engines, although it was somewhat different this time because this was a conglomerate of five ships. Nothing was really standard about this launch. Soundwave had been watching the progress on the monitors, but the process was still somewhat time consuming, and he'd resorted to merely listening to radio communications.

"Javelin is go for launch."

The message had come over the overhead speakers, filling the room. Soundwave opened his eyes, watching as the monitor devoted to the Javelin's systems turned from red to blue. He looked back, watching the number of vehicons working at the other terminals.

"Apex Sirion go for launch."

"Triad is go for launch."

One after the other, the monitors turned blue. Soundwave began to feel restless, and he started to sway gently, waiting for another message. He'd launched the Nemesis numerous times before, but this time was somehow different. This ship wasn't something anyone was used to, and this would be its maiden voyage.

"Voulge go for launch."

A wave of anxiety welled up in Soundwave's mind, and Megatron stepped up by him, glancing at the terminal, pressing a key on the panel and speaking over the intercom.

"Stand by."

The gladiator looked back, glancing toward Starscream, who hovered around the vehicons at the other terminals.

"Is it running?"

"Now it is."

Some of the energon pumps had been stalling occasionally, which wasn't exactly a major issue, but it had momentarily interfered with some of the Alterium's sensors. Starscream looked back toward Megatron, starting to wander slowly up to the main terminal.

"It's up now, we're good."

Megatron spoke again through the intercom.

"Erebus is ready. Prepare for launch."

He turned to Soundwave and gave a brief nod, holding his hands behind him. With a deep breath, the silent decepticon turned back toward the helm, gently laying his fingers across the control panel. After a moment, the dead silence in the room gave way to the sound of the engines awakening in tandem, thrusters firing with a distinctive pop. The sound grew louder, and finally the floor jolted slightly as the whole of the ship lifted itself from the ground. Already some of the vehicons began to chatter in excitement, but they stayed relatively quiet, knowing Soundwave preferred it.

The ship rose up a couple dozen meters before the back thrusters fired, sending the Erebus lurching forward.

Soundwave's hands still shook slightly, but nonetheless he stared at the monitor before him, guiding the ship with gentle sweeps on the touch panel. Gradually it gained speed, flying low over old Kaon, and soon it tilted back, letting its main engine guide it further up as its takeoff thrusters quieted.

The excited tone of the vehicons behind him soon gave way to silence again, considering everyone in the room stared out the window, watching old battlegrounds and monuments pass by below them. Soundwave, too, watched for a moment. There were the remainders of buildings in the heart of Kaon; the government offices and capitol square, torn to pieces in the war. Only their ground floors remained intact, the rest either crumbling or reduced to their metal beam skeletons. There was the entrance to the mines not far off, but finally came the sight that every decepticon paused for.

The massive complex that spanned below them was once Kaon's gladiatorial arena. Obvious from the air was the arena itself, now an empty stadium decaying into rust. To one side were the living quarters, the practice hall and the guest lobby, to the other were the armory and some scattered offices. It was even still possible to distinguish the boundary walls that surrounded most of the complex, designed to keep their imprisoned gladiators captive. Much of the wall had been torn down early in the rebellion; an event Soundwave remembered vividly, but most of it still remained.

In but a moment, however, the Erebus continued forward, putting the brief minute of rumination to rest. Soundwave looked back at the helm terminal, suddenly much calmer than he was when he'd started. The ship tilted back again, enough to cause some of the occupants to brace themselves as its main engines hit full power. The sound was briefly deafening, and the whole of the vessel began to shake, but it sped forward and ascended into the dark morning sky.

Soundwave smiled behind his visor as the view in the front window shifted to mostly include the stars. It was finally happening, wasn't it? The decepticons were finally abandoning this centuries-dead war ground to make a new future. They were finally leaving all but one autobot behind.

The ship's trembling grew more severe as it sped up, and Soundwave finally had to latch onto the base of the terminal with his cables just to hold himself up. This was just normal for a launch through Cybertron's dense atmosphere... right?

The shaking lasted for only four minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Soundwave's mind raced with all the possible things that could go wrong with that much vibration; machinery could become dislodged, pipes could rupture, steel beams could become warped. He forced these thoughts from his mind, however, once the ship began to calm. As air pressure decreased around them, so too did the gravity. With a brief series of input commands, the artificial gravity came online, gradually counteracting the subtle weightlessness the occupants began to feel, and pulling them down to the floor.

With a sudden, almost overwhelming sense of relief, Soundwave looked up at the window before him, showing the black expanse of space that laid before him. The vehicons all began cheering suddenly, and Soundwave looked back at them for a moment. He could only assume the same celebration was taking place on the other ships, although he wasn't certain as to why. He glanced back at the terminal, turning the ship toward the coordinates they'd set, and locking course. He lifted his hands from the panel hesitantly, finding everything to be in order, and finally stepped away, turning around to look at Megatron as he sent a global message.

[Erebus is on course.]

The gladiator cast a faint but warm smile toward him as the vehicons continued their cheering, then stepped up to the console to again speak through the intercom.

"The bridge crew are now dismissed. On a side note, one piece of equipment we managed to salvage was an energon distiller. Make of that what you will."

Soundwave glanced at Starscream, whose face turned positively and maliciously ecstatic in response. The seeker held his hands together as Megatron turned to face him, looking up at him with all the devious pride he was known for.

"You can be  _ quite _ gracious, my Lord."

"I didn't do anything for you."

"So... where is this distiller?"

"On the Triad, in the second cargo bay."

Several of the vehicons had seemed to be listening for this, considering that once Megatron had given his answer, they shuffled off excitedly, no doubt to go find where this distiller was and exploit it. Starscream didn't necessarily shuffle, but he did leave the room, prompting Megatron to turn to Soundwave, almost rolling his eyes.

"I don't know why they think I sanction this."

[Because you do?]

Megatron gained a curious look for a moment, and Soundwave continued.

[You enjoy watching them get drunk in some way.]

The gladiator lowered his voice, considering there were still a few troops working around them.

"I enjoy... seeing them enjoying themselves. And moreso, I enjoy watching  _ you _ get drunk."

Soundwave's aura turned to one of subtle insult. It was true that he'd become impaired in the past, but it was only because it was a curse of his that he loved the taste of high grade despite hating its effects. He looked away for a moment, then back up at Megatron, finding that he held a subtle smile on his face, having meant no insult. Though, he looked away again as he responded.

[Regardless, I'm not going to start drinking this early in the morning.]

"There's no morning in space."

Megatron stared down at Soundwave with a widening smile, clearly trying not to laugh, and failing. The silent decepticon held a hand to his head, as though deep in thought.

[I... cannot think of a way to refute that.]

Megatron briefly held a hand to the side of Soundwave's arm before walking off. Soundwave glanced back toward the window, staring at the expanse of stars before him, his eyes soon drifting to one of Cybertron's moons in the distance. For a moment, he wondered if Airachnid still lived after he'd stranded her out there. Probably not. A slow, agonizing, shameful death was what she deserved after her amount of treachery.

Soundwave turned and walked out of the bridge, his mind beginning to wander aimlessly as he made his way back toward the Triad.


	14. The Middle

Sure enough, although it had taken some time for the distiller to run, a small group of vehicons eventually began to gather once high grade started becoming available. Of course, Soundwave was only aware of this because Starscream had sent him several messages about it. He, of course, wasn't the type to partake in such gatherings, but he was definitely the type to want to observe it.

He'd been leaning back against one of the counters in the lab, glancing at reports on his visor when he turned to Shockwave, who was reading something on the terminal beside him, and hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.

[Do you have any interest in watching the... gathering?]

"Not particularly."

[You don't have any research that requires observing... whatever that entails?]

Shockwave turned to look at him for a moment.

"You want me to go with you, don't you?"

[I didn't say that.]

Soundwave's aura turned generally content in response, showing that he did, even though he had no idea why. Shockwave remained neutral as he looked back at the terminal. He stayed silent, however, prompting Soundwave to respond again.

[Alright. In that case, I'll be back.]

Shockwave looked back over at him when he started to walk out of the room, but declined to speak.

 

In reality, the group hadn't started with very many people, but as more vehicons started to linger around the cargo hold in vague curiosity about what was going on, it had turned into something of an actual party. Not many of them were exactly drunk yet, but as Soundwave lurked in the corner of the room, he overheard several troopers being just  _ slightly _ too open and honest with Starscream to be entirely sober. But, of course, that was exactly the kind of thing the seeker thrived on.

A couple insecticons were clustered off to one side, and a couple vehicons had started lobbing a twisted piece of metal back and forth.  _ That  _ combined with high grade was a hilariously bad idea.

There was a collection of storage crates in the corner, most of which were probably filled with energon ore, but Soundwave climbed onto one, sitting on top of a stack overlooking the rest of the room. Almost as soon as he did this, he looked over to find Megatron off on the other side of the room, holding a small glass of high grade, taunting him with his smile. The gladiator started to wander over toward him, though he did his best to stay within the periphery.

Megatron had once been much more open to participating in these sorts of things than he was now. In the days of the gladiatorial arena, he'd seemed to cherish any possible escape from the unpleasant realities of having been sentenced to die there, and for that death to come about for the amusement of others. But as he gained power and a following, so too did his personality change, and he grew more subtle in his indulgences.

Megatron stepped toward Soundwave, looking up at his perch, and after a moment, holding out the glass of high grade he held. Soundwave could only emanate a vague sense of having been insulted by the gesture, but Megatron seemed to insist, placing the glass on top of the storage crate, directly beside him.

"You've at least earned that."

The gladiator rested his weight back against another stack of storage crates, and the two remained silent for a while, watching the activity in the room. Megatron's aura seemed to turn awfully somber all of a sudden, and Soundwave looked down at him. He returned the glance with calm but thoughtful eyes for a fleeting moment.

"This is all that remains of the decepticons now. No wonder they're celebrating this."

[I figured they were just sick of the rations they had before.]

"Oh, there's more to it than that."

Soundwave looked back over at the gladiator, who continued after a moment.

"So many eons we've spent mired in war... that we've forgotten what it's like to be free."

[You're not going to start lecturing me again, are you?]

Megatron laughed slightly.

"Not today, Soundwave."

They went silent again, at least until Starscream walked up to them, holding a glass of high grade which he readily handed to Megatron. The seeker looked up at Soundwave, crossing his arms.

"I never understood your approach to these things. You hide in the corner like you don't want to be here, but clearly you do, otherwise... well... you wouldn't be here."

[I like to observe.]

"Oh, don't be naive. Observing  _ is _ participating."

Megatron started drinking from the glass Starscream had given him, and the seeker wandered back out into the center of the gathering again. After a moment, the gladiator looked back at the glass he'd placed beside Soundwave, finding it still full, and cast a strange, almost amused glance toward him. The silent decepticon swung with one foot, hitting Megatron in the back of his shoulder lightly. The gladiator looked back up at him for a moment, speaking in a quiet voice.

"What? Just drink it slowly."

Soundwave smiled behind his visor as he responded.

[Why are you tempting me?]

"If you didn't want to be tempted, why did you come here?"

[... Ugh.]

Megatron drank the last of the high grade he held, then looked back at Soundwave as he turned to walk off.

"I know, it's insulting whenever Starscream is right about you, isn't it?"

[Yes.]

Megatron laughed for a moment as he walked away, leaving Soundwave to glance at the glass beside him. Finally, he took it, partially undoing the latches on his visor, and took a drink.

If dark energon was the blood of Unicron, then high grade was the blood of Primus. It didn't necessarily have a taste, but it felt like the essence and the warmth of sunshine. And that was exactly why Soundwave avoided it so much; it was delicious, and therefore far too easy to overindulge in.

He remained on his perch, watching the scene unfold before him. A few of the vehicons had started to become uncoordinated, stumbling occasionally as they spoke to one another. Those that had been lobbing seemed to have stopped at some point, which was probably a good thing. After another minute, however, Soundwave looked toward one alcove on the other side of the room, staring past Starscream handing Megatron another drink, and focused his attention on one figure hiding amongst the energon crates. Soundwave downed the last of the high grade he held before jumping down off of his perch and wandering over to the other side of the room. As he approached, Ratchet looked at him and immediately seemed to roll his eyes in annoyance. The silent decepticon stepped up toward him, merely standing there in silence until the autobot returned his stare.

"What?"

[I didn't think you'd show up here.]

"I could say the same to you."

The autobot still seemed angry, of course, but it wasn't so much directed at the people around him as it was at himself, at least from what Soundwave could tell.

[I just like observing.]

"Eh, I just like high grade."

And indeed, Ratchet was holding a half-empty glass. He let out an annoyed sigh again, leaning back against some energon crates, facing away from the activity in the room.

"I should never have left..."

So his continuing angst  _ was _ due to what happened at Iacon. For a moment, it seemed strange that he was still dwelling on it, but, if Soundwave were pulled away from the decepticons for the rest of his life, he'd feel like all of his years of service were entirely pointless. Maybe that was how Ratchet felt. Soundwave looked back at him for a moment.

[Forgive me for saying this, but I'm guessing you would have regretted staying if you had.]

The autobot almost seemed to ignore this, but finally glanced at the decepticon.

"Probably."

Ratchet took another drink, shaking his head as he looked back over at the commotion in the center of the room. After a moment, Soundwave sighed as he walked over to a nearby table and grabbed another glass for himself, retreating back into Ratchet's alcove. Just as he rested his weight against the wall, something caught his eye, and he looked up to find one vehicon try to catch a lob, only for the ball to bounce off of him and fly across the room, knocking over several energon crates. One of the insecticons dropped to all fours, emerging from his group and charging toward where the object had landed, grabbing it and hurling it back at the vehicon who'd failed to catch it. Again, the vehicon failed to catch it, although this time he merely backed out of the way, sending the ball into a group of others, knocking three of them down. The insecticon raised his arms, letting out a series of high-pitched clicks, and some of the vehicons in the group started laughing.

"Two points for the insecticons!" one yelled. Almost immediately, several vehicons grabbed the ball, one hurling it back toward the bugs, who all began to gather together to catch it. The rest of the room parted, giving space to the unofficial game as it started. Soundwave looked over at Ratchet, finding him watching the commotion as well.

[High grade and lobbing is not a good combination. I'll bet you that right now.]

The autobot looked over at him, letting out a short laugh.

"That would be a stupid bet to take. At least we all have something in common."

The rest of the room seemed content watching the game, even though some of the vehicons involved gradually became less coordinated as time went on. Soundwave at one point left his space to grab another drink, though in the back of his mind he already knew he'd had too much. Not that it had started to affect him, but it was going to if he kept drinking it. As he returned, he was suddenly able to see that Ratchet, on the other hand already  _ was _ affected. It was subtle, but his aura had quieted, and he'd been fidgeting, shifting his weight rather often. Soundwave looked at the glass he held, hesitantly taking a drink a moment later.

[Why does this have to be so good...]

Ratchet looked over at him, seeming amused.

"Because everyone's so used to that... awful energon from before?"

[Maybe.]

A sound caught everyone's attention, considering the lobbing ball had been deflected, throwing it into one of the tables that held drinks on it. There was a momentary hysteria, considering it considered of glass shattering and high grade spilling to the floor, but as soon as one of the insecticons grabbed the ball, the room began to calm down again.

Soundwave scanned the room again, finding Megatron across the room, standing beside Knockout, seeming to talk about something. A few vehicons surrounded them, obviously becoming more impaired by the minute. He looked over beside him, finding Steelwing walking up to him. The silver form seemed to glance curiously at Ratchet for a moment, but turned his attention back toward Soundwave.

"Just so you know, uh... Starscream's telling people about you and Shockwave again."

Soundwave passively held up a hand, as if waving Steelwing away.

[Yeah, I still don't know why anyone cares about that.]

Ratchet stepped over toward Soundwave as he spoke, pointing toward the silver figure.

"And that's only half of it."

"Half of..."

Soundwave reached back, momentarily grabbing the autobot's face and shoving him away. Ratchet took a few steps back, sounding aggravated but amused.

"I wasn't going to  _ say _ anything about it."

Steelwing glanced over toward Starscream, pointing Soundwave's attention to the way the seeker rested on a storage crate, swaying slightly even as he merely sat there talking to a few vehicons. Steelwing looked back at Soundwave.

"I don't know, maybe he had too much."

[Starscream?]

"... Yeah?"

[Oh, no, Starscream doesn't drink.]

Steelwing could only respond by staring at him in silence, and Ratchet stepped back toward him as well.

"What do you mean, he doesn't drink?"

Soundwave closed his eyes as he smiled behind his visor for some reason.

[He's just  _ really  _ good at faking it.]

Steelwing's aura felt especially strong all of a sudden, seeming horribly confused.

"Wait... what!?"

[Don't tell anyone I told you that.]

"He's... pretending to be drunk? Why would he pretend to be drunk!?"

Ratchet seemed to echo the silver figure.

"Well, especially when he could just  _ actually _ get drunk."

[I forget exactly what he said, something about... manipulation. Getting people to talk openly.]

"Wait," Ratchet said, "when have you  _ ever _ forgotten what someone said?"

[When I've been drinking.]

"Of course."

Steelwing shifted his weight awkwardly. Clearly he hadn't had any high grade.

"Wait, so Starscream really doesn't drink?"

[No, not in social settings. But Megatron does.]

They all looked over at the gladiator suddenly, finding him still among the group of vehicons watching the continuing lobbing match. He seemed mostly coordinated still, though he seemed  _ much  _ more relaxed than he usually was. Ratchet backed toward the wall behind him and leaned against it again.

"Yup. Whatever this is... is still better than what I was doing in Iacon."

Soundwave, noticing that Steelwing had left at some point, moved to stand beside Ratchet in mutual relaxation.

[I knew I was right to bring you here.]

"I said this was better, not that it was good. Though... at least I've had enough high grade to find that funny."

As the lobbing match eventually devolved to vehicons grabbing onto one of the insecticons to see how long they could hang on, the atmosphere in the room seemed to become much more amiable. Soundwave at one point closed his eyes, instead merely listening to the sounds around him, but as soon as he did so, he seemed to lose his balance, stumbling slightly but quickly leaning back against the wall. Ratchet laughed for a moment upon seeing this.

"How much have  _ you  _ had?"

Soundwave looked at the glass he held, finding it mostly full. The thing was, he only remembered holding an empty glass just a few minutes ago. He let his hand relax, dropping the glass and letting it crash to the floor.

[Damn you.]

"What did  _ I _ do?"

[Ugh, Megatron's going to laugh at me.]

"Yeah but... he's laughing at... everything right now."

Soundwave turned to leave, only to suddenly become overwhelmed with vertigo, and he stumbled back toward the wall where he was at least safe. After a moment, he started walking with his weight dragging against the wall, and Ratchet followed for some reason, laughing occasionally.

"So... have you had enough high grade to forget what people are saying?"

[Have you had enough to shut up?]

"... No?"

Soundwave sent a ping to Shockwave as he continued his slow journey around the edge of the room, although he hadn't expected to get a message back.

[Yes, I received your previous five pings.]

[I only sent you one!]

Ratchet responded, still lingering behind him.

"Sent me one what?"

[A request for you to shut up.]

He got a message back from Shockwave a moment later.

[I suggest you not test my patience.]

[Your patience is irrelevant to the larger dilemma of my struggling to leave this room.]

"I guess that's true... but high grade doesn't help."

[If only it did...]

He got a message from Starscream soon after.

[Soundwave, what are you talking about?]

He looked around the room, trying to find the seeker, but he'd seemed to disappear at some point. How had Starscream heard him? Although, upon second thought, Megatron seemed to be absent as well.

He heard familiar footsteps, and looked up to see Shockwave standing before him, his aura severely annoyed. Ratchet stepped over beside Soundwave, looking up at the scientist.

"By the way, I was wondering if you were still carrying becau-"

Shockwave held up his gun arm and promptly shot Ratchet square in the chest, sending him reeling back and falling to the floor, motionless. Soundwave, having been standing directly next to the autobot, started backing away from Shockwave as much as he could.

[You killed him!]

He received another message from Starscream after a second.

[Soundwave, I have never said this, but I highly recommend that you stop talking.]

[He killed Ratchet!]

"That blast was hardly damaging."

Shockwave grabbed Soundwave finally, throwing him over his shoulder. After a moment of hesitation and a quiet sigh, he grabbed Ratchet as well and walked out of the room.

 

The meeting the next day was awkward at best. It was clear who'd been drinking and who hadn't; even Megatron seemed generally off compared to Starscream. Ratchet refused to look toward Soundwave or Shockwave, and Knockout looked as though he was in the midst of dying from illness. Starscream, of course, wasn't affected at all, but he did have several marks on the right side of his neck, looking like puncture marks. He looked generally disinterested, resting his head in one hand and twiddling the fingers on his other.

"Alright," Megatron said finally, his voice quiet. "There have been many details about how this ship will function that were previously overlooked, considering our primary interest in time, that we must now begin to address. But, first things first. You."

He gestured to one vehicon who'd only recently returned to the meetings. He'd been involved with the mining crews, but Soundwave had only seen his designation on a few scattered occasions. The vehicon stood up, stepping around the table, and knelt down before Megatron.

They both seemed out of sorts.

The gladiator sighed quietly before speaking again.

"You were presented with the challenge of ensuring that all energon was extracted from each mining site, and that it was done before the launch of our ship. Faced with this, you've managed to organize an entire mining division with little guidance, and effectively reach your goal. I realize that this was a difficult, though vital objective, and I am... pleased to see such tenacity. Know that among the decepticons, even miners are worthy of recognition."

He stopped for a moment, shifting his weight slightly.

"Do you accept the terms of servitude, to be steadfast in adversity and fearless in demise?"

"Yes, my Lord."

"To pledge your spark to the future of a new world?"

"Yes."

"To carry our sigil with humility into the darkest hour and beyond?"

"Yes."

"In this moment we witness a new decepticon rise above his rank, to become Railgun. Rise, and face your fellow decepticons."

Railgun stood up, saluting first to Megatron, then back to the rest of the room. In tradition, everyone returned the gesture. Even Ratchet followed, although his response lacked energy. The otherwise unnotable vehicon returned to where he had been, and Megatron continued.

"The main concern at present is who will take command of each ship. Because each is capable of splitting off if necessary, each will still need independent command in the instance that this should happen. Because the Alterium represents and is the core of the Erebus, it will be commanded by myself."

The gladiator gestured toward Steelwing.

"You have shown yourself worthy of commanding the Javelin, should you accept."

"I... do accept. Thank you."

Megatron seemed to hesitate before turning toward Soundwave and Shockwave.

"I would ask Shockwave to command the Apex Sirion."

The scientist looked up at him, and Megatron spoke again.

"It is a research vessel, is it not?"

"Yes, but commanding a research vessel is not the same as doing research."

"I trust you to be competent at both."

"... Thank you, master."

Soundwave could tell that Shockwave was still uneasy, but he went quiet, and Megatron moved on.

"Soundwave will command the Triad, and Starscream will command the Voulge."

The room was silent in response, and the gladiator seemed to get annoyed for a moment.

"Any questions?"

Several voices spoke at once.

"No."

"But, so long as these ships remain together, the previous hierarchy remains."

There was a short moment of silence again.

"Take the time to organize how your own ships will function separately. Continue processing the remaining energon ore we have stored. Dismissed."

Steelwing and Starscream, being two of the only sober individuals, were the first to leave following Megatron. Ratchet shuffled out of the room while still avoiding even acknowledging anyone else, and the insecticon soon followed, creeping along on all fours. Knockout stood up, though he still looked like he was about to collapse, and was soon accompanied by the vehicon now named Railgun. He seemed to help the medic up, and without a word, walked with him out of the room.

Shockwave looked toward Soundwave, who still remained motionless, and his aura became both aggravated and sympathetic. Considering there was no one else in the room, he spoke quietly, the low tones of his voice becoming oddly soothing.

"How do you feel?"

Soundwave looked up at him, unable to hide a trace of genuine gratitude. The scientist had barely spoken to him all day, seeming generally annoyed, and this was the first time he'd shown any real concern.

[Decent.]

"Good."

Without hesitation, Shockwave got up and left. Soundwave stood up, trying to follow at his speed, but soon slowed again, watching him leave.

Well, Shockwave  _ was _ still annoyed about the previous day's events.

Soundwave rolled his eyes behind his visor and instead turned toward the bridge. As the doors opened some time later, he found Starscream at the end of the platform, talking to Steelwing. The seeker was quite a bit taller than the red and silver figure, but they nonetheless seemed comfortable talking to one another. Starscream noticed Soundwave first, looking over toward him and straightening his posture somewhat. Steelwing always seemed rigid, considering he probably wasn't used to this much attention from the commanders, but what little of his aura Soundwave could feel seemed comfortable, almost proud. Starscream stared him down for a moment before speaking.

"Ahh... we were just... talking about the Javelin."

Soundwave merely stared at him, considering he hadn't really said anything of substance, and Steelwing seemed to continue the conversation.

"So... can I move people from other ships, or can I only choose between people on my ship?"

Starscream glanced at Soundwave briefly, then looked back toward the other figure as he responded.

"You can move people from other ships, but be reasonable about it. You'll have to get permission to do that, so unless you have no one else, I'd stick to people already on your ship."

"My ship... still sounds weird to say."

"It was already your ship for a while."

"True."

Starscream looked back at Soundwave, placing a hand on one hip, seeming annoyed all of a sudden.

"Did you need something?"

[The terminal.]

The seeker rolled his eyes as he stepped off to one side, allowing Soundwave to start using the terminal. Steelwing, seeming to grow awkward in the silence that followed, backed away slightly.

"Ahh... thanks, Starscream."

He walked off, leaving the seeker to loiter by Soundwave, watching as he scanned through work logs, dismissing them and sorting others more rapidly than seemed reasonable.

"How do you do that so quickly..." he muttered.

[I'm used to it.]

"Hm."

Starscream seemed to stare out at the view before them for another moment, then looked back toward Soundwave as though realizing something.

"I... just remembered for some reason, you were in my dream."

The silent decepticon finally turned to glance at him.

[I... have not the heart to ask.]

"Oh, come on," he said with a smile, "even in my unconscious mind, you were boring."

[Speaking of things that happened yesterday, what are those marks on your neck?]

Starscream seemed to immediately become defensive, his posture turning somewhat rigid as he took a step back. One of his eyes narrowed, looking suspiciously toward Soundwave.

"Nothing."

Soundwave turned fully to face Starscream, smiling ever so slightly behind his visor.

[That's a strong reaction over nothing.]

Starscream crossed his arms as he leaned into Soundwave's space ever so slightly, his aura turning defensive to match his body language.

"Why do you care?"

[Because that looks like a bite mark.]

Starscream didn't move, instead merely looking incredibly annoyed. He let out a quiet growl, then moved back to his previous posture.

"I can't say anything to refute that now, can I?"

[Not really, no.]

The seeker still seemed standoffish as he looked away, but for a moment he glanced back at Soundwave.

"Well, it's not like I didn't enjoy it."

Soundwave merely stared at him, unsure of exactly how to react. Starscream seemed to wait for a response, but finding none, merely rolled his eyes and walked off.

The seeker really was quite bizarre. He'd been so defensive just a moment ago, turning insulted at the question Soundwave had asked, but rapidly he switched to admission, and almost... bragging about how he'd gotten that mark?

The more telling reaction would be Megatron's. Soundwave smiled behind his visor as he turned back to the console, going through the rest of the logs he needed to address. Once this was done, however, he tracked the gladiator down to a cargo room on the Alterium, which Soundwave presumed he'd picked only because the cargo doors had rather large windows, displaying the vast expanse of space that laid before him. He sat on a storage crate, as seemed typical for the ship, and stared outside. He looked back at Soundwave as he approached, but it was only a passing glance, and he turned back toward the main window again.

"It's strange to think of how fast we're moving. Nothing outside ever looks like it's moving in comparison."

Soundwave stepped up beside him, moving another storage crate so he could sit next to him. The gladiator seemed fatigued, but nonetheless placed a hand to Soundwave's back as they both stared out into the distance.

[I blame you for my current state.]

"There it is. I was just waiting for you to say that."

[Do you disagree?]

"No, you're right to blame me."

They both seemed amused as they went silent, relaxing in the dim lighting of the room. Finally Soundwave looked back toward Megatron.

[By the way, you wouldn't have anything to do with those marks Starscream has on his neck, would you?]

The gladiator seemed to freeze, genuinely caught off guard for once in his life. There was no real distinct emotion detectable in his aura, but he glanced over at the other decepticon.

"Why are you questioning me about this?"

[It looked like your doing.]

Megatron actually seemed to stutter for a moment, trying to think of what to say. In his hesitation, Soundwave spoke again.

[Starscream admitted it pretty quickly.]

"It was accidental.  _ Why _ are you asking me about this!?"

Soundwave smiled behind his visor as he leaned against Megatron, closing his eyes and basking in the awkward confusion of his aura. It was delicious, to see him so uncomfortable. It was rare, and it was Soundwave's fault.

"If I didn't feel so lethargic, I'd get up and let you fall over."

The gladiator moved his hand to hold the side of Soundwave's head.

[Then you'd be the third person I've annoyed today.]

"... Who's the third?"

[Shockwave.]

"... What did you say to Shockwave?"

[Nothing. He's just annoyed that he saw me yesterday, I guess.]

"... Did he actually shoot Ratchet?"

[Yup.]

"That hardly seems... logical."

[I'm sure it was, but I don't remember the context well.]

Technically that was a lie, but it was simpler than the truth.

Following this, the two merely sat in silence for some time, staring out at the stars. This would be their same view for quite some time, now that they were careening through space toward an unknown future. He couldn't remember a time where any decepticon had spent this long in space. It was interesting, but it begged the question; what now? Again, the lifetime of war haunted him. Now that there was no enemy, no one to be watching for, no one to fight, everything seemed pointless somehow.

It seemed the decepticons would have to learn to live again.


	15. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Section once Soundwave wakes up - Mass Effect 2 - Legion  
> Section beginning with "the sound of crackling flames" - Metroid Prime - Chapel of the Elders

The next several days passed rather uneventfully. No one was rushed, but everyone had something to be doing, even if it was the menial task of processing the energon ore they'd stockpiled. Soundwave stood in the lab on the Apex Sirion, since it had become Shockwave's new domain, and worked silently at the terminal therein. The room was considerably larger than the lab in the Triad, and the extra space was both convenient as well as unnerving. It seemed  _ too  _ large, as though the room was trying to consume him. He was reminded of this yet again as he heard Shockwave speak, and looked over to find him in the other corner. Except, now he seemed twice as far away.

"Come look at this."

The scientist didn't even bother to move his head. Soundwave wandered over, looking at the other terminal he'd been working on, finding several rudimentary telescope images displayed on it. As he approached, he found Shockwave's aura inviting, even though his voice seemed as emotionless as always.

"Our course will take us within range of this planet soon. If my scans turn up anything of interest, I may recommend exploration. But I cannot map much of the surface. Large-scale storms are gathered in several regions."

Soundwave stepped closer to look at the image, finding the planet mostly brown and dead looking. However, some spots almost seemed green, and he looked up at Shockwave.

"I cannot confirm if this planet contains life."

[How soon will we get there?]

"I recommend slowing the current speed, otherwise the closest point will be in four hours, and we will have 2.7 hours to determine whether to land."

[What are you leaning towards?]

"Without any further information, I would recommend surveying it for resources, at the very least."

[Alright. I'll tell Megatron.]

"Thank you."

Soundwave nodded before walking off toward the bridge. It seemed archaic, but it was due to security concerns that the helm controls were only accessible via the bridge terminal. It was not very complicated to slow the speed of the ship, but maneuvering it back onto course to correct for the other adjustments made as a result was slightly more involved. As he did this, the gladiator stepped into the room, staying silent as he walked up to him. He kept his distance, to a degree, for which Soundwave was grateful, but it was still distracting, and thereby aggravating, for anyone to hover silently behind him. As he finally finished his series of adjustments, he looked back toward Megatron and spoke.

[We'll be within range of a planet soon. Shockwave may recommend exploring it, if only to gain resources.]

"How soon?"

Soundwave looked away for a moment as he sent a message to the scientist.

[Time until we're in range at current speed?]

The response was almost alarmingly fast.

[Six hours.]

He looked back up at Megatron.

[Six hours.]

"Good."

After a moment, they both looked out at the main window, finding one spot of light to be considerably larger than the others.

"I presume that's the planet," Megatron said.

[I think so.]

The gladiator looked down at him with a faint smile on his face.

"How does it feel to be an explorer?"

[It's... interesting.]

After a second, Megatron started looking around the room, finding only one other vehicon working at the consoles on the other side. He glanced back at Soundwave, still lowering his voice even though the vehicon probably couldn't hear them anyway.

"Why are you up this late?"

[I was working.]

"Don't work too hard, you'll run out of things to do."

Soundwave emanated amusement, and Megatron spoke again.

"I... was actually being halfway serious about that."

[Well, now we might have a planet to explore.]

"Might. And if we do, you should probably sleep before then."

[Probably.]

Megatron stared him down, until finally Soundwave stepped back from the console, returning the stare. After a moment, however, still under Megatron's gaze, he turned and walked away, heading back toward his quarters.

Given that he was tasked with commanding the Triad, he was the only one aside from Steelwing who didn't need to move his sparse belongings to another ship. Thus, he had already memorized the path to his quarters, and already had them nearly perfected. Of course, nothing would ever truly register as perfect in Soundwave's mind, but it was still a goal.

He hadn't seemed to realize how tired he really was until he laid down, at which point his accumulated fatigue took hold all at once, and he drifted into sleep strangely quickly.

 

Something began to stir him from his sleep some time later. Some sense of urgency prodded at his mind. Something felt wrong. Just as Soundwave opened his eyes, a sound caught his attention, and he jolted upright, a sickening sense of dread piercing his spark. Something had exploded down the hallway. He received a message from Megatron as he bolted out of his quarters, sprinting through the halls of the Triad.

[Soundwave!?]

[What's going on?]

[I'm trying to find out!]

Soundwave ran past several windows, seeming to notice something in his peripheral vision and looking over. As he realized what he was looking at, however, he stopped and backed up, staring out another window just to make sure he wasn't imagining things.

Visible outside was the planet they intended to survey, taking up most of the visible space, but a massive mechanical form floated by, appearing only as a black silhouette obscuring the view. As Soundwave watched, several parts of the form began to light up, and it shot a laser toward the Erebus, striking the hull further down the hallway. He looked over just to see parts of the hull melt out of place, and for the laser to burn its way through to the rooms within. Not a second later, several missiles swarmed the area, rocking the hallway with repeated explosions, sounding like crazed machines. Soundwave was thrown to the floor, though even as the atmosphere began to drain from the room, he slowly climbed to his feet and started running again, sending a global message.

[Erebus is under attack. All personnel report.]

The hallway became lit with red, signalling the hull breach, and Soundwave ran through a metal threshold just in time for the blast door to shut behind him. It wasn't locked, so it wasn't going to seal anyone inside just yet, but it would at least keep the air inside the ship.

He continued sprinting frantically down the hallway considering it was too narrow for him to transform, all while repeated explosions from other parts of the ship threw the entire area in different directions. He rounded one corner, his feet sliding out from under him and throwing him to the floor, but he just barely managed to brace his fall with one hand and climb to his feet again, barely losing any momentum. He received a message from Shockwave just as he ran back into the Alterium, momentarily escaping the chaos around him.

[Where do you need me?]

[Stay in the Apex. Be ready to separate.]

Soundwave burst through the doors of the bridge, already finding Starscream and Megatron there, the gladiator holding onto the main terminal merely to avoid falling over, and the seeker already tossed to the floor. Megatron looked back toward Soundwave, his eyes practically shining a furious crimson.

"Get us  _ out of here! _ Starscream, weapons!"

The seeker barely got to his feet when the whole ship rocked again, sending everyone in it stumbling to one side. As Soundwave ran up toward the terminal, he just managed to catch Starscream before he fell again. Even in that split second, he could tell how desperately the seeker clung to him, and he could see the terror in his eyes. But whether by fear or courage, Starscream turned away, heading toward one of the other consoles as Soundwave ran up to the helm. With his cables he latched onto the base of the console, brushing his hands against the control panel, swiping upwards almost violently. The ship rocked forward as all of its thrusters fired at once, sending it hurtling forward, toward the foreign craft but angled so as to fly over it. Megatron began yelling through the intercom across the entire ship.

"Everyone be prepared to separate ships-"

Something struck the Erebus from above, resulting in the deafening sound of metal warping, and the lights in the room all surging before physically bursting apart, showering the room in sparks and bits of glass.

"This ship remains connected as long as possible! If you see that ship outside, do everything in your power to take it down!"

Megatron took a defensive stance, crouching somewhat as the floor rocked beneath him. Soundwave looked back at him.

[Should I go back to the Triad?]

"Not yet!"

Soundwave split part of the front display to show other views, revealing three other spacecraft he hadn't spotted before.

[There's more!?]

"What  _ are _ they!?"

They both watched as various weapons began to activate and retaliate against the ships, even as the Erebus flew past the first vessel at a dizzying speed. One already began to catch up, and Soundwave watched it intently on the split screen. Several more impacts rocked the vessel, feeling like they came from other sections, and finally Megatron turned toward Starscream.

"Go back to the Voulge."

Without a word, the seeker ran off, leaving the room mostly empty, at least for the few seconds it took for a small group of vehicons to arrive, taking various places at the other terminals. Megatron shouted several orders back to them, but Soundwave was lost in the display before him, trying desperately to move the ship away from its attackers. Were these autobots? The ships didn't look like anything he'd seen before, but theirs was the only known spacefaring civilization.

Finally Megatron turned to him, though it took a second for Soundwave to shift his attention away.

"Head back. We need to split the ships apart. We're only making ourselves a larger target."

Soundwave glanced back at the displays for a moment, then toward the vehicon who'd be flying the ship in his place. He gave a single nod, and ran out of the room once more.

Immediately his surroundings seemed more chaotic again, whether it was due to his loss of control, or his loss of focus. Now every explosion registered in his mind, every shift of the floor beneath his feet drove him onward. Granted, the frequency of the explosions had fallen, given that the attackers no longer held the element of surprise in their favour, but the attack was nonetheless ceaseless. Briefly he glanced out a window as he passed, finding a laser striking the front of one of the assailing ships. Almost at the same time, the hallway around him jolted to one side from an explosion, throwing him into the wall for a moment. He looked back out the window just in time to watch another flurry of missiles break through them and explode around him. One of the explosions threw him across the hallway, slamming him into another wall, and he lost consciousness.

 

As he opened his eyes, fleeting, scattered thoughts raced through his mind, barely long enough for him to process anything. All he knew was that he was in danger. That was all he could remember.

But why was he in danger?

He tried to move, his head lolling to one side as he squirmed slightly, trying to breathe. He opened his eyes again, staring through his cracked visor to process the image before him. Still, it took him several seconds to realize that he was lying on the floor, staring out through broken windows to the vacuum of space.

Well, that would explain why he couldn't breathe.

Where was he? This was clearly a ship, but he couldn't remember how he got here. Flashes of light illuminated the hallway, coinciding with explosions across the ship floating outside. Clearly he was in the midst of a battle.

A battle...

In an instant, he awoke from his delirium, though he only managed to remember that he was on the Triad. What it was doing in a battle, let alone in space, still escaped him. As he continued to watch the commotion outside, however, recent memories began to return to him, scattered recollections of urgency. But, as these pieces began to fill themselves in, other pieces naturally followed, and gradually he started regaining faint memories, a vague familiarity with his surroundings.

 

This was not how it should have happened.   
  
Broken lights flickered, showering the hallway in sparks. Smoke and dust clouded the air, filling the room with a glowing haze. Soundwave held a hand to his head as he sat upright, trying to process the scene before him. He looked down the hallway, gazing at the broken doors and collapsed ceiling, trying to remember what happened.

 

How did it end up this way?   
  
Sure, it was an oddly strategic attack from several autobot ships, but what was anyone doing fighting over a barren rock in fringe space? It was strange. He remembered everything, but it had all happened so quickly that it felt like he had just woken up to a different world entirely. So much time had gone by since the decepticons' last defeat that it was hard to believe he was already on another warship. It only felt like yesterday he'd escaped the Shadowzone.

 

His mind raced, suddenly beginning to piece everything together. He checked the time, doing so twice just to make sure he was correct.

In the span of about thirty seconds, it felt like he'd relived the past six months. Everything began to weigh on him again. Shockwave's voice came through his comm link, though it wasn't directed to him.

"Apex Sirion is detaching."

Megatron responded, and the sound of explosions was audible in the background.

"I didn't give you permission!"

"The magnet locks are failing. The ship will detach with or without your permission."

Soundwave finally got to his feet, still feeling lightheaded as he stumbled down the hallway toward the bridge. Several other transmissions grazed by, but he still felt as though he were seeing the world through a fog. He started running again, finally reaching the bridge of the Triad just as another transmission from Megatron came through.

"Soundwave, where are you!?"

[Here, finally.]

"All ships, detach from Alterium,  _ now! _ "

Soundwave could barely keep up with the flurry of information that assaulted his mind as he struggled to remain in the present, even as the whole of the ship was jerked in several directions by the release of the locks holding it to the other spacecraft. Shockwave's voice echoed through the room, coming from the overhead speakers.

"Apex Sirion is detached, but I am losing maneuvering thrusters."

Steelwing's voice came through the chaos a moment later.

"All Javelin crew, draw their fire from the Apex."

The comm channel went silent, and Soundwave took a deep breath, considering this room still had air in it. Though his hands shook slightly, he rested them on the control panel again. His cables emerged from his torso, one merely holding onto the terminal, while the other reached toward an access port, several smaller cables emerging from within to connect directly to the computer.

He closed his eyes, and gradually, the ship began to speak to him. Sensors and cameras across the vessel fed him data, feeling as natural as though it came from his own body. He looked through its cameras, moved with its engines, and felt every piece of gunfire that touched its hull. Suddenly everything made sense, and the Triad shot forward, spinning around in place to fire several missiles toward the smallest foreign craft. There were four in total, though only the largest one had the laser weapon. The other three seemed to try to protect it, staying close as though attempting to shield it. The Javelin, being the fastest of the decepticon ships, flew by the larger craft in several passes, each time striking it with its own beam weapon. Considering the Triad was only a cargo vessel, Soundwave kept his distance, taking the time to steady his aim before firing whatever weapons the ship had.

And he watched intently as the Apex Sirion hurtled through the cloud of gunfire, seeming as though it lacked control. The largest attacking ship turned, clearly aiming toward where it would be, and fired. Its laser struck the decepticon ship on the top of its hull to one side, staying on target long enough to actually burn all the way through the ship.

[Shockwave!?]

A response came through a moment later, but it was shrouded in static for several seconds.

"... lost manual control. Reactor core has taken damage. Evacuate the ship."

Starscream responded with barely a moment of hesitation.

"Wait, we can disable the beam weapon!"

The Voulge flew by a second later, shooting a stream of gunfire toward the three craft guarding the larger ship. Soundwave moved the Triad forward again, only to be struck in the side by a torpedo shell, the force imparted as a result throwing him to the floor, forcibly disconnecting him from the Triad. Briefly it felt as though he'd lost consciousness, but that was always how it felt when your senses were ripped from your mind without warning. It took a moment for Soundwave to get back up and grab onto the terminal again. He stared out the window, watching as the Voulge dove directly toward the laser end of the largest ship as it aimed toward the Apex Sirion again. Already, several escape pods were jettisoned from the research vessel, and the Alterium briefly flew through his range of vision, trailing energon and debris behind it.

[Starscream, what are you doing?]

"This ship has a short-range disruptor cannon."

The Voulge somehow sped up, careening toward the assailing craft as the armatures of its laser weapon began to glow, and Soundwave froze.

The laser fired again, striking the Apex Sirion straight through the center. It must have hit the power core, because not a moment later, what little he could see of the ship's interior flashed with a blue burst, implying a massive energon explosion. The Voulge, continuing to fly toward the craft, began sparking with energy as it neared. Just as it dove into the laser fire itself, whips of electricity jumped to the attacking vessel, dancing across its surface. The laser seemed to grow brighter for a moment, at least before it died down, presumably as the weapon that spawned it burst apart. The rest of the ship went dark, all of its lights and thrusters all deactivating simultaneously.

Soundwave stared for a moment, simply trying to process the image. His eyes flickered back to the burnt remains of the Apex, and he merely stood there waiting for a message from Shockwave. Megatron's voice came through the comm link, but Soundwave all but ignored it.

"Starscream, what happened?"

"Hell if I know!"

"Well, it was effective."

Steelwing joined in a second later.

"Seems like another one's down. We can handle the other two, right?"

Soundwave's gaze remained fixed on the Apex Sirion, to the point where he could barely will himself to move, even as one of the two remaining enemy ships suddenly loomed in front of him, loading another torpedo. He knew he had to move now, but his hands remained frozen, his mind consumed by the silence. Shockwave  _ had _ to have said something by now.

Starscream's voice echoed through the room.

"Soundwave? You there?... Triad?"

So  _ this _ was why Shockwave suppressed his feelings. Soundwave knew full well that it was his emotions that had caused him to freeze at such an inopportune time, but now there was nothing he could do about it. He'd already failed his crew by falling in love with the one person who'd never be able to reciprocate it.

He finally broke out of his paralysis just in time to watch the torpedo fly almost directly toward him. But, even as the noise around him erupted in chaos, all he could hear was the silence.

 

The sound of crackling flames finally drove Shockwave to consciousness, and he looked around, finding himself still in the escape pod he'd left in. What time was it? Why hadn't the decepticons been able to retrieve him yet? The craft rested at an angle, and Shockwave laid on the floor. Just as he reached forward to pull himself up to the control panel, his whole body was suddenly wracked with pain, and he cried out momentarily. Looking down at himself, he suddenly found a support beam from the pod itself jutting through his chest, and a puddle of energon around him.

As his awareness grew, so did his ability to feel pain, and Shockwave began trembling, trying to turn his focus to what had happened. He looked around again, only now noticing the sounds of thunder outside. His arm transformed into a laser cutter, and he sliced through the beam that had stabbed him with relative ease. All while trying to ignore the agony he found himself in, he pulled himself up onto a ledge, looking out through the window to find rain running down across the glass.

He'd landed on the planet. No one had managed to retrieve him before now?

No matter. He had no choice but to go on from here. He stared down at his wound, trying to think of how he'd even begin to address it. He was a skilled doctor, but he wasn't used to dealing with things this urgent, without equipment, let alone on himself.

To be fair, it probably wasn't going to be any different than how he'd treat someone else. Work deliberately, control any bleeding. He glanced back down at the puddle of energon he'd already bled. He didn't have much of a margin of error. That was fine. He could manage. Just ignore the pain. Time is of the essence.

He grabbed onto the metal beam, his whole body shaking as he hesitated for a moment, then finally pulled on it, and promptly screamed. It took him a minute to even regain his awareness, almost panting as he finally looked over at his hand, finding that he'd managed to pull out the entire piece of metal. He let it drop to the floor, letting his head fall back as he tried to calm himself down. There was no way he could work while in this much pain. But he'd already removed the beam, so now he'd probably worsened his bleeding.

He glanced at the control panel, reaching toward it and finding that it still somehow functioned. His best chance of survival still remained with the decepticons, but only if they could find him. The storm he was under would no doubt interfere with any distress signal he'd send out, but it was only a matter of time before it cleared.

But time was something he lacked. Again he found energon seeping out from his wound, collecting beneath him. He turned his attention back to the control panel, setting a locator beacon to transmit on loop. With any luck, the pod itself had enough energon to sustain that for a while.

His senses had begun to dull, and he looked back outside. Logically speaking, he was probably going to die here. He'd lost a significant amount of energon, and there was no way he could stop it before losing consciousness again. He had so much work to finish, though, so much knowledge to share. How was this his fate? To die alone on an unknown world... At least he was, in a way, dying in the pursuit of knowledge.

He had to put himself in stasis. It was the only way he was going to possibly prolong his survival long enough for the decepticons to find him. He looked back at the computer, a torrent of thoughts suddenly going through his mind. He had to say  _ something _ in case he died. But what?

He pressed several keys, and soon the computer pulled up a prompt, asking what he wanted to send to Soundwave.

Shockwave froze, staring at the blank screen before him. What was he supposed to say? How could he pick just one thing to impart? His thoughts momentarily drifted through everything that had happened in recent past, and an overwhelming sense of despair welled up within him. He started shaking again, suddenly realizing just how unforgivably cold he'd been to Soundwave. At least now he had one opportunity to right that.

The one thing he wanted to say to him, above all else, was the truth.

As he finally set the computer to send his message when it could reach the ship, some of his despair began to fade away, replaced instead by tranquility. His breathing slowed, though he still shook. He connected a small cable to himself, reaching back toward the computer to instead place himself in stasis. He pressed the button, and almost immediately his tense body began to relax. He looked back out the window, watching several silent flashes of lightning illuminate the sky. The pain he'd been in was slowly washed away, his mind went quiet, and he finally closed his eye, listening to the sound of rain and gentle thunder.

This could very well be the very last thing he'd ever experience. For Soundwave's sake, he hoped it wasn't.

He hoped against logic. Just this once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how long I've been waiting to write this.


	16. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> VERY fitting overall, especially for the later section - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUKiOcV1SSc

Soundwave awoke suddenly in panic, jolting upright, barely even realizing he'd ever gone unconscious until he found himself in a medical bay on the Alterium. The room was quiet, almost unnervingly so, and he found a variety of tubes and wires stuck to him. Within seconds he began to feel lightheaded, and laid back down, looking over to find Starscream sitting on a table next to him, holding a burnt, partially melted arm. The seeker had stared at him following the abruptness with which he'd awoken, and of course, was the first to speak once Soundwave relaxed slightly, answering the question he hadn't yet asked.

"Only the bridge of the Triad really got damaged. The other two attackers fled. We connected the rest of the ships together, and... well... here we are."

Starscream looked over as Knockout walked into the room, and the medic in turn shifted his gaze to Soundwave.

"Oh, you're up?"

Soundwave gave a subtle nod.

"Good. You uh... sustained a lot of head trauma, so... don't try to do too much."

[Where's Shockwave?]

Knockout and Starscream exchanged a brief glance, and the seeker spoke.

"There were... twelve escape pods jettisoned from the Apex, enough to hold most of the crew. And, most of the crew is accounted for. We know that Shockwave was on one of those escape pods, but it fell to the planet before we could recover it."

[But it has a tracking beacon, doesn't it?]

Starscream looked away, clearly not wanting to be the one to tell Soundwave this.

"We lost the signal as it fell. It's most likely atmospheric interference, but..."

[He did mention storms on the surface.]

"Yeah..."

While he tried to ignore it, Soundwave couldn't stop the quiet dread that slowly consumed his mind. Shockwave was out there somewhere, hopefully still alive, but lost on a foreign world, out of their reach. He looked over, watching as Knockout started removing parts of Starscream's arm, sending a message only to the seeker.

[How much of the Triad's crew is left?]

"We're still counting. There are only a few confirmed casualties so far."

Soundwave looked away, still trying, and failing, to suppress his growing sense of shame.

[This is all my fault... I saw the ship, but I couldn't move. I just stood there as it got blown up.]

Starscream stared at him for a moment, knowing how uncommon it was for him to divulge something of this sort. In an uncharacteristic show of courteousness, he responded silently.

[In all honesty, from what Knockout's told me, you might have actually been short circuiting that whole time.]

[To the point of not being able to move?]

[Uhh... yes.]

Soundwave went silent again, staring off toward the other side of the room, starting to look through the flurry of reports that had started to come in. Five injured on the Alterium. Four dead, seven injured on the Voulge. Six dead, ten injured on the Javelin.

Seventeen dead on the Triad so far.

Twenty-seven dead on the Apex Sirion so far, one missing.

 

Despite all that had happened, Megatron was surprisingly effective at keeping the decepticons focused on moving forward, and so within eight hours of the disaster that had just struck, another meeting had gathered in the same room as always, with all of the same crew members, with the exception of Shockwave, of course.

Soundwave sat in the same spot he usually took, though he held onto the chair beside him with an unwavering grip, as though trying to cling to the hope that Shockwave was still alive somehow.

Everyone else similarly had injuries of their own. Knockout's various scrapes had already been buffed away, but Ratchet had quite a few scratches across his face and arms, one gash in particular having damaged his right eye, to the point where its light had gone completely off. Steelwing had all sorts of dents across his body, the most impactful probably being the one on his chest, that looked like it must have affected his ability to breathe. The insecticon mostly had dents similar to Steelwing, though one of his secondary legs seemed to be missing entirely. Starscream, of course, clutched his melted arm.

Even Megatron had a variety of abrasions across his head and chest, some still covered in dried energon. Naturally, though, even with all of his visible injuries, he still carried himself with power as he looked at the disheveled group of decepticons. As he spoke, his voice was quiet and raspy, indicative of unseen damage. He barely had any voice left.

"Decepticons. Considering the events we are still trying to process... I'm grateful that all of you are still here."

His gaze turned toward Soundwave and the empty chair beside him.

"... Even though one of our own is missing. Shockwave's craft was last reported falling to the planet's surface, and its signal was lost in the interference of an electrical storm. All other decepticons are accounted for at this point. Current death count is at 56."

The gladiator let out a quiet sigh.

"Our larger objective is to leave this area. Those ships that attacked us were probably acting in defense of this planet, for all we know. Of course, this assumes primary goals of repairing our damaged spacecraft, and retrieving Shockwave, not necessarily in that order. Considering that the largest foreign craft is now derelict and remains close by, I would recommend exploring and possibly salvaging it when possible."

Ratchet raised his hand somewhat, and Megatron turned to look at him, letting him speak.

"My scanners have pointed toward that ship containing energon, but I urge the use of quarantine protocols if we investigate, considering it's an alien vessel."

"Energon?"

Ratchet merely shrugged in response, and Megatron looked around the room again, his gaze falling to Railgun.

"How much of our energon stock remains?"

"67 percent, sir."

The gladiator went silent for a moment in thought, then glanced toward Knockout.

"You take command of the Apex Sirion until Shockwave's return."

Knockout gave a nod in acknowledgement, and Megatron looked back at Ratchet.

"When applicable, you will lead the exploration of the derelict vessel."

The autobot's one functional eye went wide in surprise, but he stayed silent, prompting Megatron to speak again. Though his voice was hollow, his words were as powerful as ever.

"I do respect your judgement, Ratchet, and if there's energon aboard that vessel, we may need it when we are to search for Shockwave."

He looked over at Soundwave as he spoke.

"And we will. Though we are unequipped at the moment, we will never leave him stranded again."

He held up a hand, and turned to point toward Starscream.

"How many of the weapons remain functional?"

"I'll have to check."

"I want weapons on standby in case any of those ships return. Soundwave, what do we need to do to make this ship able to land again?"

[We need the maneuvering thrusters on the Apex. The rest of the ships didn't take too much damage to theirs, so-]

He stopped as he received a message suddenly, perking upright.

"So?"

The message was flagged as priority, coming from Shockwave, by way of his escape pod.

[I love you.]

That was it. Soundwave's eyes went wide as the words pierced his spark. He started trembling, then got up, bolting out of the room.

"Soundwave!"

Megatron started to run after him, but stopped after a second. Soundwave sprinted through the hallways, watching as several vehicons he passed backed against the wall to let him by. He burst through the doors to the bridge, running up to the helm terminal, well aware that the vehicons in the room looked to him, wondering what warranted his urgency.

"Commander?" one of them tentatively asked. Soundwave held up a hand, and they went quiet again. A series of displays popped up on the screen, although some were distorted from damage to it. A scan of the planet came up, and he began desperately tracing the location of Shockwave's signal. Megatron finally messaged him again.

[Soundwave?]

[Shockwave sent a message.]

[He's alive?]

Soundwave held a hand to his head, so overwhelmed by his torrent of emotion that he could barely think anymore.

[With what he said... he expected to die...]

On the screen, the computer started drawing a radius of where the signal had come from, slowly narrowing its parameters, although at this point the radius covered about a quarter of the visible surface. Megatron continued messaging him, though he could tell the gladiator was coming his way.

[If he sent you a message, he's alive.]

[Not now, not with what he said...]

[What did he say?]

Just as the search range on the screen narrowed to about three thousand kilometers, a warning message came on screen.

[Interference: Signal may be too weak to trace]

Megatron finally stepped into the room, running toward Soundwave and placing his hands on his shoulders.

"Can you locate it?"

[What does it look like!?]

The gladiator looked up at the display before him, watching as Soundwave worked frantically. He turned around, waving a hand toward the others in the room.

"All of you, get out, now."

The vehicons shuffled out of the room, and Soundwave began to panic, watching the signal strength fade without the search radius narrowing any further.

"Soundwave-"

He tore his arms from Megatron's grasp, looking up just as another warning came on screen.

[Interference: Signal lost]

Soundwave screamed, throwing his hands back down on the control panel, trying to think of what he could do. Megatron grabbed his arms again, pulling him from the terminal, but again he wormed his way out of the gladiator's grasp. Finally, Megatron grabbed his arms to pull him away, but this time spun him around, grabbing either side of his head.

_ "Shockwave isn't dead!" _

Considering it had come from Megatron, those words weren't necessarily comforting. Soundwave continued shaking, and the gladiator's eyes finally grew calmer as he spoke again.

"What makes you think he is?"

[He sent a message with that locator beacon and all it said was "I love you."]

Megatron sighed, letting his hands drift to Soundwave's shoulders.

"And here I thought Starscream made that whole thing up."

Soundwave started almost gasping for air, trying to cool his overheating circuitry. Megatron knelt down, his aura trying to seem calm.

"Soundwave."

Even though his voice was lacking, it was still comforting. Regardless, Soundwave still felt like he was suffocating, and frantically removed his visor, dropping it beside him. It had been forever since Megatron had seen his face, and the gladiator ended up staring into his violet eyes for a while.

"Don't stress yourself out like this. You'll start short circuiting again."

He heard the sound of the door opening, and Megatron looked toward it, silently waving a hand, telling whoever had opened it to leave. The door shut a second later, and the gladiator looked back at Soundwave.

"Shockwave is as resilient as he is intelligent, you know that."

Finally Soundwave's breathing began to slow, though he still stared down at the floor. They both knew that Shockwave's message  _ was _ indicative of someone who knew they were about to die, but Megatron nonetheless grabbed either side of his head again, staring into his eyes.

"And what happened to the Triad wasn't your fault."

Soundwave looked up at him, his aura suddenly flashing with a touch of anger.

[Of  _ course _ it was my fault, I had the power to move it and I couldn't. I was so focused on Shockwave that seventeen people  _ died _ .  _ Because of me. Because of my emotions. _ ]

"Emotions?... Soundwave, you basically had a stroke. You suffered a  _ lot  _ of unseen damage, even before the Triad got hit."

He looked down at the floor again, picking up his visor to place it back over his face. Megatron stood up, staring down at Soundwave with calm eyes.

"The Triad was not your fault. You are still effective at your work. Don't forget that. Though, I am somewhat... ashamed that Shockwave was bold enough to tell you he loves you, when I never have."

[I always assumed you did. You don't need to say it.]

"But I do."

The way he said those words made Soundwave shiver. It seemed unfitting, something the gladiator had never said before, but it was still powerful.

 

While Soundwave had to refrain from doing too much, as difficult as that was, the remainder of the decepticon forces worked tirelessly in his stead, only doing whatever repairs were immediately necessary. But the ships seemed quiet. Everything was tense. Fear lingered in the air, when there was any, silencing the crew that succumbed to it. Time was measured in hours, considering everyone on board the Erebus was merely waiting for more assault ships to arrive. Troops were ready and waiting at the controls of every weapon across all five ships, or at least the ones that were working, watching outside for any movement that could be perceived a threat. But hours passed, and nothing happened. The derelict vessel remained motionless outside, floating alongside them like a sentry; watching them, following them. What lurked inside that metal hull? What beings had gathered the resources to attack them so fiercely?

Soundwave stood at the helm terminal as these thoughts flowed through his mind, vivid enough to pull him away from his surveillance. He stared out through the glass, captured by the image he saw beyond, and stepped around the terminal, sitting down on the edge of the platform, letting his legs dangle below. From this vantage point, all he could see was space. The planet glowed brightly enough to where the room was lit entirely by it, especially considering the lights had broken during the battle.

If the beings had attacked them in defense of this planet, then they'd likely killed Shockwave. His pod was likely shot down, banned from ever reaching the surface. Even if it did, it-

The door opened, and while Soundwave didn't look to see who it was, he was soon able to recognize Starscream's footsteps. Distractions were usually unwelcome, but considering he'd yet again started winding himself into despair mulling over Shockwave's fate, it was excusable.

The seeker wandered up to the terminal, but stopped, presumably staring at Soundwave.

"Uhh..."

The silent decepticon gave no acknowledgement in response, only gazing out at the picture before him. Starscream spoke quietly, his voice sounding like thunder.

"They're... going to start burying the dead soon."

Soundwave still ignored him, at least until the seeker sat down beside him, also looking out into space.

"Not sure why I had to get a ship full of insecticons."

Soundwave finally looked over at him.

[Do you have anything of substance to say?]

"Just... I'm sorry."

The seeker's aura was hidden, but Soundwave's was suddenly purged of aggravation, and Starscream spoke again.

"Making fun of you and Shockwave and all."

[I thought you hated him?]

"Oh, believe me, I still do. But being stranded on an uncharted world is no way for any decepticon to... end up."

[... Why are you telling me this?]

Starscream seemed to regain his usual state of perpetual annoyance.

"Do you even know how difficult it is for me to apologize?"

[Yes. But you hate both me and Shockwave, so I don't see why you'd go out of your way to do so.]

The seeker's eyes narrowed as he only passively looked toward Soundwave.

"I never said I hated  _ you." _

Soundwave gave no response, prompting Starscream to speak again.

"At least not consistently. Nothing is ever consistent for me."

[And whose fault is that?]

"Well,  _ I  _ can't help being so bipolar. And here I try to apologize, and I'm met with cynicism."

[Is that unwarranted?]

Starscream glared at him.

"You're starting to sound like everything I hate about Shockwave."

Soundwave sighed silently beneath his visor, taking a moment to respond.

[I appreciate your willingness to apologize. But I'm not going to alter my behaviour to your preferences.]

"Because that wouldn't be logical, would it?"

Soundwave merely stared at him, and the seeker let out a sigh of his own, his posture relaxing slightly as his head tilted back. His aura flared in strength, filled with guilt.

"I mean well, I  _ want _ to apologize, then I have to say something both stupid  _ and  _ offensive. Ugh. Look, all I wanted to say here was... I don't want you to think I'm against you or Shockwave."

[... I appreciate the sentiment. But I'm still not sure why you're bothering to tell me any of this.]

"Do I  _ need _ a reason? Did you need a reason to tell me you trusted me?"

Was this some sort of repayment for that earlier conversation? Soundwave stared at him for a moment, then looked back out into the starry sky.

[I was trying to motivate you.]

"Hmph. Pragmatist."

The way he'd said that sounded like an insult. Starscream stood up, remaining there for a second before wandering away, muttering one last statement under his breath, just loud enough for Soundwave to hear.

"Some things aren't practical. Doesn't mean they're not worth trying."

Soundwave listened to him walk away, heading toward one of the other consoles on the bridge and working silently thereafter.

Every word to flow from Starscream's lips had seemed cryptic somehow, like every chosen term was supposed to have a second meaning that Soundwave couldn't decipher. So the question was; was he stupid in his failure to understand the seeker's meaning, or was he just paranoid in believing there to be one? Surely, Starscream wouldn't just apologize to him for no reason. Despite the angry way he'd said it, Starscream  _ was _ a pragmatist, in some sense. Everything to him seemed to revolve around trade. He felt that his actions deserved reciprocation, and he himself had helped others when he felt indebted to them. Hell, he'd spared Arcee once, for some reason believing she deserved it.

So, was this all in response to the care Soundwave had taken to talk to him following the building collapse? He'd almost forgotten about that conversation, but maybe it'd had more of an effect on Starscream than he'd realized.

At the same time, trying to understand the seeker's motives was a ceaseless, mostly pointless struggle. Soundwave stared back outside, his mind consumed by the planet that glowed before him. It was difficult enough not to expend too much energy using his fragmented mind, but doing so while Shockwave lingered in his thoughts was nearly impossible. He desperately wanted to believe the scientist was out there somewhere, alive, building a signal booster from the parts of his escape craft, but in his mind stuck the image of Shockwave with his hand on the control panel, dying just after sending his message.

"I love you."

He must have been in considerable distress to bother sending something like that. But it was still honest, wasn't it? It  _ was _ possible. Shockwave did love him. Even if such an admission were only made out of stress.

And he loved Shockwave in return. Was this what it had come to? The two most neutral, unwavering, ruthless decepticons swept up in some hopeless romance? Even those words alone were somewhat sickening. He never thought he would be the type to succumb to such illogical feelings.

And yet, if he had the option to, he would spend every day of his life alongside Shockwave.

"Do you ever get sick of each other, or no?" Starscream had asked.

No, they never did. They held a seemingly contradictory need for both companionship and isolation. And they each managed to provide both.

A sudden pain struck Soundwave's spark, like it was twisting on itself. He wanted nothing more than to surround himself in Shockwave's aura, to listen to him try to explain the chemical properties of dark energon, or just to hold his hand once more.

Soundwave looked down at his own hand. How depraved was he, anyway, that led him to such fantasies of an emotionless scientist? How helplessly weak-willed had Shockwave become, to send such messages to him? They'd known each other for millennia, for eons, ever since Soundwave had been a gladiator in Kaon. For all those years they'd worked alongside each other, never once giving the other a second thought. And now, here was Soundwave, pining for his return like some helpless fool.

But, try as he might to deny it, he  _ did _ love Shockwave. That much was no longer refutable.

He stared out at the planet again, lost in its shimmering glow. How illogical this was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I constantly feel like I'm warping everyone's characters, especially Starscream and Megatron. And, of course, Soundwave, because he's just emulating me at this point. I can't even hear him with a non feminine voice anymore.


	17. Disconnection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These chapter names are only vaguely relevant.
> 
> Sorry about that big delay. I'm still not fully in the writing mode, as I'll get into it but then only be able to write a hundred words or so, but I at least have enough to post for now.

The next thing he remembered was the service for all who had perished. Normally, individual vehicons didn't get this much attention, but given the fact that these people had all died in a single event, and were leaving an already dwindling population, the decepticons had taken the time to place each one in a capsule. Each was decorated with the decepticon insignia and the person's name, although the insecticons were instead labeled as "A member of the Master Hive". It was their tradition to do so, even though it seemed disrespectful somehow. A decepticon's highest honor was to be granted a name, but the insecticons went out of their way, it seemed, to avoid their own.

"Insecticon culture is rife with collective identity."

That's what Shockwave had said. It probably applied here too. Soundwave stood in one corner of another cargo bay, where all the dead had been placed. Starscream lingered beside him, watching as Megatron turned to address the various others who attended. He glanced at Soundwave, and the silent figure began recording him, broadcasting it across the ship. Despite the fact that Megatron's voice was still damaged, he was nonetheless able to convey everything he needed to as he spoke.

"This will not be a simple, forgettable address about returning to the Allspark. This is not a simple, forgettable situation. While we have escaped the trappings of our war on Cybertron, I am just as... disturbed as you to find that we are still targeted by others who wish to destroy us. We must never again allow ourselves to be caught so woefully unaware by such attacks."

He gestured back toward the room full of capsules.

"58 people died in this attack. We cannot afford to lose any more. This is no longer about pursuing our future... this is about surviving in the present."

As Megatron went silent, the quiet in the room became overwhelming. No one so much as shifted their weight. He turned around, placing one hand gently on one of the capsules, staring down at it as his fingers brushed across the decepticon emblem.

"These soldiers of ours... most of them probably never lived in a time of peace."

He went silent again, holding his hands behind him.

"Will this be the fate of the Cybertronian race? To wander the stars, searching for a place where we can live in peace?"

He turned around, facing the other decepticons again.

"I don't mean to be bleak. I only want to make it clear that these casualties are tragic, and we must keep these decepticons in our memory as we forge onward. Every individual who remains in our ranks is precious, and we cannot afford to lose any of them."

He briefly glanced over at Soundwave.

"As you well know, one of our own is stranded on the planet below us. Make this known: we  _ will  _ find Shockwave, and we will bring him back. As dangerous as lingering here may be, we will not be leaving until we find him. Exploring and researching the derelict vessel is also paramount. We will get nowhere if we remain uninformed of our attackers."

Megatron started to walk out the room as he spoke, and the small crowd of vehicons backed out as well.

"I only wish this could have ended another way. But we who remain must work in place of those who've fallen, and we alone can create the future these 58 people gave their lives for. They pledged their sparks to the future of a new world, and the only way we might honor them is to fulfill that promise; to create that new world ourselves."

He looked over at Soundwave and gave a slight nod.

"That is all."

With that, the broadcast stopped, and the rest of the room's occupants finally left. They all stared toward the door as it shut behind them, and Megatron turned to a nearby control panel.

"May their sparks find the tranquility we could not."

He pressed a button, and the doors within the cargo bay opened up, opening the room to the void of space. With another button press, all the capsules in the room began to lift, drifting out into space. Everyone stared in complete silence, watching the objects as they floated away into the black void, floating down toward the planet below them. As they slowly became more difficult to distinguish, a few vehicons turned to leave, and soon the rest of the room followed.

The next thing Soundwave knew, he stood at the helm, his hands resting on the control panel, in the middle of typing a word. He lifted his hands from the panel, staring at them for a moment.

How had he just skipped six hours with no memory of what happened?

He turned around, finding Starscream standing behind him, looking up at the main display. His eyes gravitated to Soundwave as he turned to face him.

"... What? What is it?"

Soundwave looked up at the display, finding a variety of hexagonal windows, each with different forms of information displayed therein. He turned back to Starscream.

[... What am I doing here?]

"Uhh,  _ you  _ suggested this. This was your idea."

[No, I mean... I don't remember why I'm here.]

Starscream backed away ever so slightly, looking suspiciously toward him.

"What... are you talking about?"

[I literally do not remember anything that happened in the past six hours.]

"You..."

[I'm being serious. Why am I here?]

Starscream still seemed awfully suspicious as he responded, scanning Soundwave's every move.

"So... you're just there, working on analyzing those signals... and then you just forget everything that was going on?"

Soundwave took a step toward the seeker, his aura flaring in annoyance. Starscream backed away, holding his hands up.

" _ Okay,  _ I get it. It's just bizarre to suddenly be asked 'by the way, what have I been doing for the past six hours?' Not something you usually hear."

Soundwave stepped toward him again, and again the seeker backed up, though this time his wings drooped as he did so.

"Okay, okay! Calm down! Those are stray transmissions given off from the foreign ships, you were just trying to decrypt them."

Soundwave looked back up at the display, finding that they now made sense with that given information. He noticed Starscream's aura relax, and the seeker spoke again a moment later.

"You... forgot everything in the past six hours?"

Soundwave had no response, and instead went back up to the terminal, trying to look through everything he'd already done to see where he'd left off. Starscream seemed hesitant as he muttered something to him.

"Are you... sure you're fine?"

But Soundwave continued to ignore him. He'd sustained damage, yes, but this was the only way he was going to be useful. And he  _ had  _ to be useful. He couldn't go an hour anymore without desperately thinking of what he could do to help find Shockwave.

Starscream's aura turned somewhat fearful as he took a step toward the other decepticon.

"Soundwave?"

Soundwave turned his head slightly to look back in Starscream's direction, his aura empty, devoid of all feeling.

[I know I'm damaged. But I have to be doing something.]

"Sure, but-"

Soundwave turned to face him, the emptiness in his aura almost like a void. Starscream held up his hands again, though he held them close, staring at him as he backed away.

"I, uh... I'll... leave you to it... then..."

Soundwave turned back toward the screen before him, and soon became lost in his work again... assuming he'd done so earlier. While it had taken him some time just to figure out what he was working on, he was soon able to continue from where he'd left off, leaving himself notes occasionally in the event that he forgot everything again. And several times he did forget minor things, having to redo certain pieces of work multiple times only because he forgot what calculations he was doing. It wasn't long, however, before he received a message from Megatron.

[Just so you know, a team is getting ready to scout the derelict vessel.]

[They're going in? Is Ratchet going with them?]

[No, but Knockout is.]

He looked out through the main window, glancing toward the ship in question. Perhaps there'd been a meeting in the time he'd skipped, and he'd forgotten all the details of its future exploration. Still, if Megatron knew he was starting to have issues this severe, he'd undoubtedly hamper his work.

The gladiator sent another message a moment later.

[Were you going to send Laserbeak?]

Though he never remembered having such an idea, it seemed fairly logical.

[Of course.]

[Good. They'll be leaving and arriving from the Apex. Quarantine measures and such.]

[Do we know if that's even necessary?]

[I don't want to take any risks. But if there's energon there, we can use it, and we might be able to gather technology for future study.]

Laserbeak's fins folded down, and the drone detached from Soundwave, promptly flying away per his orders. It was not really a sentient being, despite what some people thought, but was moreso a fragment of him. It had no spark, but it did hold a piece of Soundwave's mind, and thus it acted as a proxy. When it returned to him, its records became his memories, sometimes indistinguishable from his others. It was the ultimate surveillance tool.

The drone started transmitting once it reached the group on the Apex Sirion, lingering beside the door to the upper deck. Four silver jet vehicons stood in one corner, joined by one purple one. Knockout looked over at Laserbeak, messing with the parts of a jetpack that had been attached to him. Ratchet looked up at the drone after a moment, but remained silent, prompting Knockout to speak instead.

"Are... you sure you should be doing this?"

Soundwave responded via his regular method.

[This poses no risk of furthering what damage I've already taken.]

Knockout let out a sigh, then looked back toward Ratchet.

"Is the field up?"

The autobot waved a hand in dismissal, seeming both distracted and confused as he worked at a terminal.

"I've never had to use one of these before, and I'm having to look through Shockwave's notes, which... ngh.."

Given that he trailed off, Soundwave responded.

[Are written only for him.]

Ratchet looked back at Laserbeak for a moment, still seeming somewhat confused.

"... Yeah."

Knockout stepped over to the terminal, pointing to something on the screen.

"No, switch those."

"Do you know how to do this?"

"No, but I've seen it used, at least. One is frequency, one is strength."

"Well, that makes more sense."

After a moment, the room seemed to light up with a soft blue glow, like a thin fog filled the space around them, undulating like waves. Everyone looked around at it for a minute, and Ratchet let out a brief sigh.

"At least that's working now."

One of the vehicons in the corner spoke.

"Is this the decontamination field?"

Ratchet went back to the terminal, and Knockout responded.

"No, not really. It's just a scanner, for the most part. But it'll kill some carbon-based life."

"Are we going then?"

"Yup."

Soundwave perked up suddenly, noticing Megatron stepping through the doors on the bridge and walking up to him. He turned to face the gladiator, who merely gestured toward the screen before them. Soundwave turned back to the terminal, and after a moment, Laserbeak's transmission came up on the main display.

 

Before long, the group made their way to the deck, exposed to the vacuum of space, and flew steadily over to the other vessel. One by one, each person latched onto the hull with magnetized feet, and one vehicon started using a laser cutter to try and pierce the hull. Laserbeak lingered nearby, watching as the vehicon worked. After a moment, he moved back, finding the spot he'd been working on oozing a white foam. The small seam quickly became covered with the foam, expanding and bubbling as it escaped into space. In only a few seconds, however, the material hardened, and the vehicon that had been cutting looked toward the others. Knockout, considering everyone else had remained silent, responded after a moment.

"What is that, a sealant?"

"How am I supposed to cut through it?"

"I don't know, just keep trying."

The vehicon turned back toward the hull, activating the laser again. Megatron looked toward Soundwave, speaking in a low voice.

"That's a good idea."

[It probably makes small breaches a pain to repair though.]

"... You have an odd sense of practicality."

The vehicon continued cutting, though more of the foam seeped out. After a short while, however, a large enough piece of metal was cut that it became possible to pry open slightly. More of the sealant continued to fly out into space, considering it was probably pressurized, but after some work, the metal panel finally came off, and the vehicon let it drift away. The group all began to cluster around the opening, and Laserbeak slowly floated inside.

Clearly this ship was made for a species much smaller than cybertronians. The drone switched on its light, and the hallway beyond was suddenly bathed in a silver light that drained the color from the room, but that was probably a good thing considering what it revealed.

Several dead alien forms floated motionless in the middle of the hallway, some surrounded by flecks of pale green blood that had coalesced into droplets, hanging motionless beside them in the lack of gravity. The forms themselves were slightly larger than humans, covered in dark gray exoskeletons. Their hands ended in three pointed fingers, looking almost like talons, and their otherwise featureless faces were frozen in frightening expressions, red eyes staring into the distance. Laserbeak hesitantly floated down the hallway, all while the decepticons who watched did so in silent shock. After a moment, one silver vehicon finally climbed through the gap in the hull to look around in the hallway. Megatron looked over at Soundwave, seeming as though he wanted to say something, but instead stayed silent.

"Ugh, Primus..." Knockout muttered over the comm. The one purple vehicon spoke after a moment.

"What is this?"

Laserbeak turned to look at him, finding him pointing toward a glowing spot over on the other end of the hallway. It began to float over toward the area in question, finding what looked like energon seeping out of a vent toward the ceiling. Motionless quantities hung in the air, but some stuck along the wall and the floor, mixed with a glowing white structure. As the drone approached, it became clear that the structure was growing within the energon itself, branching veins reaching through it like roots. Ratchet's voice came over the comm link, which was momentarily odd given that Soundwave wasn't sure how he was watching this.

"Get a sample if you could, but for the love of Primus don't touch it."

Silently the purple vehicon crept forward, holding a container Knockout had handed him. Just as he started to reach toward the odd-looking growth, however, the mass of blue shifted, and something reached out from the wall, looking like a hand. It threw a burst of energon toward the vehicon before anyone could react, then retreated back into the puddle again. The vehicon briefly screamed, then started frantically shooting at the puddle of energon, as did Laserbeak and two others. In a matter of seconds it burst apart, throwing droplets of the energon and fragments of the growth floating through space. The vehicon, still horribly panicked, looked down at himself, looking as though he wanted to escape from his own body, but not even wanting to touch what had been thrown at him.

"What do I- what do I do!? What just happened!?"

Knockout stared at him, seeming almost more horrified by the display than he was. Ratchet responded in stride, seeming far more calm, probably because he wasn't exposed to any of this.

"Don't worry, we'll have to put you in quarantine, but you'll be fine. Soundwave, could you..."

[... Yes?]

"... Open a groundbridge?"

[To where?]

"To- I thought I told you? Ugh."

After a moment, Soundwave received his coordinates, and the green portal suddenly filled the hallway with colored light. As the poor, terrified vehicon floated through it, Ratchet spoke again.

"Did you... have another memory lapse and you didn't bother to tell me?"

[You expected me to remember to tell you?]

After a moment, Soundwave heard Starscream begin snickering behind him, and he turned to face the seeker. Since when had he shown up?

Ratchet seemed to groan in annoyance as he responded.

"I can hear you from here, Starscream."

"What? He has a point."

"... Yes, yes... Someone still needs to collect a sample of that... infected energon."

The vehicons all looked between each other, none of them wanting to move. Finally they looked toward Knockout, who tossed his container back to one of them.

"You do it. Primus knows I'm not going to. That's disgusting."

Megatron rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. Fortunately, as the silver vehicon collected several particles that had been floating about, Ratchet did instead.

" _ Real  _ helpful, Knockout."

There were only a few droplets of energon in the container, but it seemed like enough, and the vehicon finally sealed it shut.

"Well, I collected some nightmare fuel."

The group looked back toward the bodies floating in the hallway, and Knockout sighed.

"Should we bring one of them back too?"

"What?" Ratchet asked. "I thought you were running this?"

Megatron interjected before anyone else could respond.

"Just bring back anything interesting. Soundwave... can you try to connect to any computer systems?"

With a simple series of commands, Soundwave sent a new directive to Laserbeak, and it flew down the hallway. Dozens of dead bodies floated motionless as it passed them, many looking entirely unharmed. Soundwave sent a message, though his gaze remained fixed on the images before him.

[It's possible these beings suffocated when the ship depressurized.]

Laserbeak rounded a corner, finding several crates filled with energon, and one alien beside them, with some of the energon growths covering its body. Tendrils reached out from its exoskeleton, waving gently as though searching for something. Soundwave could only stare, dozens of horrible thoughts going through his mind about what this might mean for Shockwave down on the surface. If this substance could infect cybertronians... there was no telling what could happen as a result.

Eventually the drone reached what looked like a computer terminal, and extended its own cables to hesitantly interact with the keypad. The screen lit up, covered with all manner of foreign characters. After a moment, it instead plugged into an access port, and Soundwave was soon inundated with a stream of raw data. He held a hand to his head, considering he couldn't process all of it at once, and Megatron looked down at him.

"Are you alright?"

Soundwave stumbled back, even as he redirected the data Laserbeak had sent him to the ship's computer instead.

[That's... too much.]

Starscream seemed to ignore the display as he spoke.

"Anything obvious you can tell from the computer so far?"

Soundwave hesitated for a moment, looking around the room and trying to fully regain his awareness. The flood of information felt like it had consumed him, and now he wasn't sure if he'd switched back to reality. But something did seem odd about the data he'd received. What he could discern as timestamps all stopped during the battle, and had only started to be recorded again just a few minutes ago.

[It looks like the entire system was disabled during the attack.]

"Must have been the disruptor cannon."

[Maybe it caused the laser weapon to overload the rest of the ship. There's nothing else it could do alone that would permanently disable a ship that large.]

"Hm."

[I'll work on that later. I need... time.]

He could discern the trace amount of concern Megatron had in his aura, but ignored him as he stepped back to the terminal.

 

The rest of the exploration was difficult to remember, given that the brief flood of data Soundwave had endured probably caused him to start short circuiting. Nonetheless, it was not long until the group returned to the ship, kept in decontamination while Ratchet began studying the mysterious substance they'd brought back. The purple vehicon was kept separate, at the very least preventing him from infecting anyone else with whatever he might have caught. While those in decontamination were released fairly quickly, for several hours he heard nothing from Ratchet or Knockout that he remembered, and so his time droned on as he stuck to analyzing the signals recorded during the attack, and the data Laserbeak had taken from the ship.

And, of course, continually listening for any trace of Shockwave's signal.

 

It was rather late when Soundwave found himself back at the helm terminal, struggling to stay awake as he worked. The room was quiet and dark, and he frequently stared outside as his mind seemed unable to focus. Words and numbers showed up on the screen before him, but nothing seemed to register. His mind had gone quiet when he tried to work, but when he'd tried to sleep, various thoughts tormented him about something he might have missed in the data, something he'd overlooked.

He opened his eyes, realizing that Megatron was suddenly beside him, holding a hand to his shoulder, having woken him up. He looked over at the gladiator, finding that he seemed both concerned and evidently annoyed.

"What are you doing here?"

[Not much, I'll admit. I couldn't sleep.]

"Well, I don't blame you for that. No one can."

They went silent for a moment, and it was clear by their weak auras that both of them were exceedingly tired. But finally, Megatron spoke again, and it seemed that he'd started to get his voice back.

"Do I need to say it, Soundwave?"

By that he meant, you shouldn't exert yourself like this, especially not while injured, even though things are chaotic now. It was a lecture he'd heard many times before.

[No. And you already know my response.]

By which he meant, absolutely nothing. Despite all of Megatron's subtle, concerned protests, they never ended up doing anything, and both of them knew it.

However, the way the gladiator smiled deviously in response showed that it wasn't going to stand this time.

"I've had enough of your disobedience."

He grabbed Soundwave's arm and started pulling him away from the terminal, even as Soundwave reached back toward it to try and at least save his progress. As he stumbled toward Megatron, he deployed his cables to latch onto the terminal, laughing quietly under his breath as he managed to stop finally. Megatron looked back at him, looking incredibly amused.

"You're very insistent, aren't you?"

He still held onto Soundwave's arm, but then stepped toward him, finally just picking him up off the floor and walking away, despite his attempts to hold onto the terminal. Soundwave couldn't help but let out a quiet sound in surprise, something of a squeak, considering Megatron had never done that before. As he tried to squirm out of Megatron's grasp, the gladiator finally stepped out of the room, promptly setting him down, looking down at him with a fatigued smile. Soundwave shook with silent laughter, returning his gaze.

[What the hell was that for?]

Megatron shrugged somewhat.

"You're stubborn. I took that as a challenge."

There was a subtle wave of soft warmth in his aura; another fleeting glimpse of how much he truly cared. The air was silent for a minute, but finally Megatron gestured with one hand, as though brushing him away, telling him to leave.

"Go on."

Soundwave tilted his head, and Megatron crossed his arms.

"I was being cordial, but I was serious. At least try to sleep."

In response he merely replayed Megatron's own words.

["You're very insistent, aren't you?"]

"If I don't take care of you, who will?"

Soundwave let out a sigh beneath his visor and turned away finally, heading back toward the Triad. Whatever had just happened was a welcome escape from the tense situation he'd found himself in, but as he walked, he was once again reminded of its realities. Thus, by the time he'd reached his quarters, his mind again began churning with all manner of horrible thoughts.

For once, he took off his visor as he laid down, staring over at a reflection of himself in a polished piece of metal on the wall. The violet eyes that stared back seemed foreign even to himself, given how infrequently he saw his own face. And in that unfamiliar face, he saw his own pain. How had everything gone so wrong? Just a day ago, the decepticons drifted through space, hopeful and eager to explore. Now these eyes he stared into looked empty, devoid of feeling...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason, the "you have an odd sense of practicality" just feels really adorable to me.


	18. Purification

As he wandered through the ship the following day, everything started to seem foreign. His mind constantly raced through everything he saw, analyzing details he'd never noticed before. Just walking the short distance between his quarters and the lab on the Triad, he passed three vehicons. The first one had scuffs on the paint around the right side of his head, a pattern of subtle abrasions down his left arm in two parallel lines, and twelve points he could spot where armor paneling was warped and thereby misaligned with adjacent panels.

The other two were no less flawed.

He hurried his pace, trying to look away from anyone else he passed just to avoid focusing on them as much as he did. Soundwave shuffled into the lab, retreating to his corner, if only to hide in some space he found familiar.

And yet, as he glanced at his workspace, he'd never noticed the mismatch of the colors on the counter. He'd never been able to so clearly see all the flaws and abrasion marks on the surface, the irregular contour of the table he'd believed was flat, the fact that its corners were just slightly off from 90º. It was tormenting; everywhere he looked, he saw only imperfections and horrible flaws. Was this how Shockwave always felt? Was this why he so obsessively maintained order? He closed his eyes, just trying to perhaps escape from everything for a moment, when Ratchet sent him and several others a message.

[I have some interesting findings regarding the contaminated energon.]

That, at least, was worth his attention. After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, he ventured out into the hallways, and made his way over to the Apex Sirion.

When he arrived, he found Megatron, Starscream, and Knockout. Behind a window, lingering in another room was the vehicon who'd been hit with the energon blast. He looked better than Soundwave would have expected, but still seemed generally ill. He sat in a chair against a wall, hunched over, his arms wrapped around himself. Soundwave looked back toward Ratchet, again reminded of the cut across his eye that he hadn't seemed to address at all. The autobot stared at the vehicon in quarantine for a moment, then, acknowledging everyone else in the room with a silent glance, turned to grab something. He held up an energon canister, clearly wanting to show them its contents.

In the bottom was a small amount of processed liquid energon, but all across the walls of the glass container were glowing white dendrites, fine growths stretching all around the inside. Ratchet looked concerned as his one eye gazed between the others in the room, but after a moment, Knockout crossed his arms, looking annoyed.

"Were you... going to explain anything?"

Ratchet set the canister down, resting his weight across the counter in front of him. Though he spoke to the other decepticons, he still stared at the canister.

"All I'm certain of so far is that it's a fungal growth, and it feeds on energon."

Megatron glanced back at the quarantined vehicon for a moment as he responded.

"Is it dangerous?"

"I can't be sure yet. I have no idea what it's doing. I don't even know if this one is infected with the fungus, or something else."

Starscream, looking slightly afraid, kept his eyes locked on the canister as he spoke as well.

"I'm guessing if you haven't been able to stop whatever's affecting him with your regular decontamination... that would imply that... all of us have been exposed to this."

Ratchet let out a dismayed sigh.

"I... haven't found anything that will kill this fungus yet, except for igniting the energon, which of course, isn't a... reasonable way to cure anyone if they are infected."

"Can you at least test for it?"

"I'll have to, now. Everyone on the ship. If this turns out to be a virulent contagion, we need to start quarantine measures now."

Knockout, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, looked over at Ratchet.

"What would you even be testing for?"

Megatron glanced at him, causing the red figure to straighten his posture, probably out of nervousness.

"I thought you were part of this?" he asked.

"No, I've been busy dissecting that alien thing we brought back."

"Anything... notable?"

"Not really anything practical. Except... its DNA is 65% identical to ours."

Ratchet seemed genuinely stunned by this, and looked over at Knockout with one surprised looking eye.

"Are you... sure it wasn't contaminated?"

"Yyyyup."

"How is that even..."

Starscream glanced between them.

"Is that a lot?"

Knockout leaned back against the wall again, looking smug, prompting Ratchet to speak again.

"Well, considering the fact that they're a carbon-based alien species... that's... substantial. I mean... there's only about a... 73% overlap with scraplet genetics, so..."

"You just know that fact offhand?"

Ratchet glared at Starscream for a moment, at least until Megatron seemed to drive the conversation back to relevancy.

"If you're going to test the entire crew for signs of this pathogen, it would be best to keep the reasoning hidden from them. I don't want a shipwide panic, considering everything we already have to deal with."

Ratchet seemed to look away for a moment, muttering something.

"Somehow I doubt most decepticons will trust me to take their blood."

"I don't see why not."

"You haven't... seen them when they're around me. They just hide in the corner, staring at me."

Starscream let out a short laugh, eliciting an annoyed look from Ratchet. However, the seeker held up a hand, seeming to gesture that that wasn't what he meant.

"No, they're... probably terrified of every doctor now just because of Shockwave."

Even Knockout laughed for a second.

"Yeah, they hide from me too. Poor things."

Ratchet looked over at Knockout for a moment.

"Uhh... do I... want to know?"

Soundwave finally contributed to the conversation.

[He had the tendency to conduct a lot of large studies on our crew. The most significant was a test during the development of the plague. He randomly infected one subject, and by the end of the day, half the crew were vomiting, and a few had to be hospitalized.]

Starscream let out something of a nervous laugh, briefly glancing up at Megatron, finding him calm as he continued.

"Yeah, his occasional studies were fine, but after that we had to ask him not to be testing deadly pathogens on our active crew. I mean, he did say it spread faster than he'd expected, but still."

Ratchet glanced at Starscream with a blank stare.

"That is... horrifying."

"Even I got infected that time."

"Regardless of what happened in the past," Megatron finally said, "if you need to test every member of the crew for this pathogen, then by all means, do so."

Ratchet let out a seemingly dismayed sigh, then glanced between the other decepticons.

"Well... might as well start with all of you..."

Starscream emitted something of an annoyed growl as he rested his head in his hands, leaning his weight against the countertop in front of him.

 

By the time 48 hours had passed following the initial attack, everyone on the Erebus had been driven to some form of insanity purely by the lack of retaliation. Per Megatron's orders, troops were still stationed at and ready to fire every weapon the ship had, but it seemed as though the efforts made to restore those weapons were pointless. Soundwave stood at the helm terminal, still working on decrypting the signals recorded during the fight, all while Megatron lingered behind him, seemingly bored out of his mind. He occasionally paced around the room, watching the work that everyone else was doing, but he had little to say, and his aura screamed of significant aggravation. Like most of the crew, he was probably rather sleep deprived as well, which only compounded the issue.

Maybe that was why Starscream hadn't reported to him all day.

When the doors to the bridge opened, Megatron seemed all too eager to find out what warranted his attention, his aura briefly quieting. Soundwave turned as well, watching as two insecticons strode up to the edge of the floating platform, but did not step onto it. There they lingered for a moment, glancing at each other silently, until finally, one of them spoke.

"Master, considering how quiet things have been... we would like to search for Shockwave."

Megatron glanced over at Soundwave, who stepped over beside him, staring at the insecticons. Considering Soundwave remained silent, however, Megatron spoke in his stead.

"Why now? If I thought it was possible to track him down easily, I would have deployed teams already."

"Insecticons are skilled trackers. We rely on intuition more than you."

While it was of course hidden, Soundwave's expression turned to one almost of insult.

[That's illogical. Intuition is just luck you attribute to skill. I've been scanning for his locator beacon for days now, but there's been too much interference. What makes you think you'll do better?]

"We must do  _ something _ ."

Soundwave went silent, and so Megatron spoke again.

"Without direction of any kind, I cannot grant you permission to go down to the surface."

The insecticons looked nervously at each other, and Megatron's eyes narrowed as he stared suspiciously at them.

"You already sent people down to the surface, didn't you?"

"Y-... yes."

The gladiator sighed, clearly annoyed.

"Asking for forgiveness rather than permission, I see... Not an unwise tactic, but-"

"We are sorry, Master, but we must find our oracle."

"I agree that finding Shockwave is a priority, but I only caution against doing so while we have no idea as to where he may be."

Soundwave looked up at him, sending him a message.

[Let me go with them.]

"No."

[I can probably track down his signal-]

"You are of greater use to me here, in the event that we are attacked a second time. I know I've discouraged you from doing too much on account of your damage, but you still remain the only one who can interpret those signals we received, or the data you pulled from the other ship."

[But I'm also the only one who could find Shockwave's signal among all that interference.]

Given that the insecticons still gazed at him, Megatron responded silently as he stared down at Soundwave.

[I can't trust you to leave the ship in your current state.]

[I don't trust the insecticons to find him with this little information.]

[Soundwave, we need more time.]

[Time is something Shockwave probably ran out of already.]

[But even you realize that searching for him now would be pointless, yes?]

[Not unless I can get down to the surface. But even then, it's probably already too late.]

[He's still alive, Soundwave.]

[ _ Shockwave _ told me he  _ loved me. _ That's so uncharacteristic as to be almost unbelievable. For him to say something like that...]

He stood frozen for a moment, and Megatron finally looked back at the insecticons.

"You are dismissed."

The two shuffled away, and the gladiator turned his attention back to Soundwave. His aura was filled with fatigue and sympathy, but his eyes remained calm and determined as he stared into Soundwave's.

[You know it's... illogical to make assumptions.]

[Ironically enough, it's logic that's discouraging me. It's logic that's telling me Shockwave's dead. Of course it wouldn't be logical to assume that, but with what he said...]

[I know you want to go search for him. But it would be... well... you know.]

[I guess if he's not here to spout logic all the time, we have to make up for it.]

Megatron looked out toward the window, gazing at the planet in view. He sighed quietly, then finally spoke again.

"I just hope that maybe what the insecticons attribute to intuition is not entirely based on luck."

Soundwave tried to avoid looking at the planet, instead trying to focus his attention on the terminal before him, but finally it got the better of him, and he stared out into the distance alongside Megatron. After a minute, their mutual trance was broken by a series of urgent beeps emitted by the computer, and Soundwave looked down at it, trying to figure out what it was trying to tell him. Just as Megatron was about to speak, several explosions could be heard in the distance, and all of the bridge crew perked up upon hearing it. Soundwave looked back at the terminal, finding a wave of reports flooding in - hull breaches, electrical fires, depressurization. With but a thought, all lights across the whole of the ship turned red, and he sent out a global message.

[Erebus is under attack.]

Megatron briefly held a hand to Soundwave's shoulder before turning to run out of the room.

"You know what to do."

Indeed, he did. He glanced at the radar, finding six foreign craft around the Erebus, three already having collided with the ship and exploded. They were rather small, not much larger than an escape pod would be. The other three craft swung around the vessel, probably trying to turn back toward it. There was only one reason a spacecraft would intentionally ram itself into another one.

These were boarding ships.

Soundwave fired all the main thrusters the Erebus had, sending the ship reeling forward, just barely managing to outpace the smaller ships. They had to have come from somewhere though, but where?

Gunfire rained down from the Erebus, all but obliterating one of the remaining ships in no more than thirty seconds. The decepticons had certainly come prepared this time. Soundwave continued scanning the radar, trying to find any other hidden spacecraft, when a point outside began to distort, as though space itself was being pulled toward a singularity. When it finally snapped back out to where it belonged, another foreign craft loomed outside, having somehow appeared within that space. It wasted no time in firing back at the Erebus, sending missiles and torpedos at the ship once more. The Erebus pulled upward abruptly, having to change course just so as not to hit the larger vessel, but soon spun around, pointing back toward it as it drifted backwards. Just as Soundwave had hoped, the Javelin's laser fired, striking the ship's hull and promptly melting through some of it.

Barely visible thereafter were chunks of the foaming sealant the hull was filled with solidifying and floating out into space.

Soundwave smiled behind his visor as he sent a message to Steelwing.

[I didn't even have to tell you to fire the laser.]

The larger ship launched another torpedo, heading toward where the Erebus would be in a moment if it kept on course. With but a flick of his hands, Soundwave again fired the main thrusters, this time slowing the ship down, and soon sending it lurching forward again. Steelwing's voice came through his comm link a moment later.

"We've been so on edge, I guess we were already prepared."

The Erebus fired several missiles back toward the main ship, and Soundwave stared at the projectiles, barely able to react when one of the boarding ships caught back up and smashed through the front screen of the bridge, hurtling through the room and embedding itself in the walls. Though Soundwave was thrown to the floor by the impact, he looked over at the craft, realizing he'd somehow gone unscathed. He received a message from Megatron not one second later.

[Soundwave?]

[I'm fine.]

Though the air was quickly drained from the room, Soundwave stood up, facing the foreign craft and deploying his cables. From what could be discerned as the front of the ship, a small form stepped out, clearly one of the same aliens they'd found in the derelict ship, though this one was clad in green armor, complete with a helmet.

For only a moment, they stared at each other, before Soundwave's arm shifted to turn into a rarely-used gun, and he began firing at the being, slowly walking toward it. As it strafed out of the way of his shots, it deployed some sort of glowing blade from its arm, but backed away. Two others soon emerged from the ship, and began firing energy blasts at Soundwave from arm-mounted weapons, though their shots were essentially negligible. Just as he started to corner the beings, however, one of them threw something toward him, a glowing ball, of sorts. And, though he jumped to one side to avoid the explosion that followed, he couldn't control what followed.

He fell to the floor, electricity sparking across his body, leaving him convulsing on the ground as he desperately tried to comprehend what was happening. Something overtook him, feeling like a frigid cold that lingered in his spark, leaving in its wake a stinging pain. His mind raced, moving at a pace even he couldn't follow. All manner of foreign thoughts assaulted him, as though he were forced to remember something he never experienced. The image of swirling masses of white and blue stuck in his mind.

He could tell that Megatron was trying to contact him again, but he had no way of responding, or even understanding what the gladiator was trying to say. The feeling of cold began to spread, moving through his chest as he continued to lie on the floor, immobilized, trembling violently, seizing up whenever he tried to move.

You have no idea what you're missing.

The wave of cold started to spread to his arms, his legs, up his neck and into his head.

For a moment, he thought he remembered gazing upon the planet the insecticons called Sanctum. It suddenly looked so vivid in his mind, a gorgeous blue sphere, coursing with energon.

Ah, but this is a prize you haven't yet proved yourself worthy of claiming.

Whose voice was assailing his mind? Suddenly Soundwave looked up at the ceiling, having finally regained control of his own body, trying to process everything that just happened. He sat upright, looking around to find the three beings still standing before him, gazing at him curiously. One even looked as though it was recording something.

Though he still struggled to move, something burned within him, like a torrent of energy he was barely managing to keep contained. He scrambled to his feet, backing away from the aliens, having to put all his concentration just into staying upright. He looked at his hands, and suddenly he understood.

Megatron soon burst into the room, promptly stopping upon looking at Soundwave. The silent figure returned the glance, sending a message as he pointed his hands back toward the alien beings and the craft beside them.

[Get back.]

The lights across Soundwave's body all began to grow brighter, turning to a furious white as the energy that overwhelmed him was suddenly let loose. Megatron barely managed to scramble out of the way as a beam of energy erupted from his hands, engulfing the aliens that had tried to run, and the ship that had brought them there. Soundwave himself had to look away, considering the burst was bright enough to be painful. After all but three seconds, the beam dissipated, and Soundwave looked back to find that he'd melted everything immediately surrounding the former boarding ship. The metal all around it glowed white, portions of it dripping off onto other pieces of molten metal.

A corner of the entire room seemed as though it'd been thrown into a smelting pit.

He looked over at Megatron for only a moment before his consciousness faded away, and he collapsed to the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are you confused yet? Because it only gets better from here.


	19. Enlightenment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the beginning - Nine Inch Nails - Disappointed (for any music selection I choose with words, don't pay attention to the words because they're usually irrelevant)  
> From "Everything had started to make sense" - Nine Inch Nails - Came Back Haunted
> 
> Also there might be some weird spacings around italics, but that's only because of the AO3 format and the fact that I don't like having quote marks (or square brackets for Soundwave) italicized. Sorry, but I can't really change it.

When Soundwave finally opened his eyes again, he found himself staring at unfamiliar white walls. He held a hand to his head, considering the throbbing pain he awoke to, and glanced about, finding a window on one wall looking into the lab on the Apex Sirion.

This was the room where that vehicon had been quarantined. He looked around, finding no trace of the vehicon in the small quarters. As he gazed, however, he noticed Knockout walk by the window, who then stopped to glance at him for a moment before turning away to look elsewhere.

"Ratchet?" he asked, his voice muffled by the glass. Soundwave stood up, stepping up to the window just as the autobot soon did. Ratchet seemed dejected as he stared at Soundwave through the glass.

"I... I'm sorry."

[What happened to the vehicon that was here?]

"He..."

Ratchet shook his head, clearly having taken the situation personally.

"I... I never should have suggested we explore that ship."

[I'm... infected, aren't I?]

"Yes... quite significantly, actually."

Ratchet let out a sigh as he looked away, refusing to meet Soundwave's gaze as he spoke.

"From what I can tell... that fungus is binding to your nervous system. I'm working as fast as I can to try and find a way to stop it, but..."

Knockout continued his thought after a moment.

"But it's awfully resilient for a fungus."

Soundwave looked off into the distance for a moment, letting everything process. This was the same infection found in the contaminated energon within the derelict ship, the same one that had killed the poor vehicon exposed to it, yet it was also the same infection that had granted him the power to melt a small ship.

... Was it? He knew it intuitively, but he had no reason to connect the grenade explosion to that pathogen. Yet, somehow it all made sense. He'd been inundated with energon, and the pathogen merely allowed him to control it.

But that  _ didn't _ make sense.

He stared at his hands, suddenly finding a moment later that the lights across his body had all changed to a calm cyan color. It looked like an autobot's color scheme, but it still looked nice on him somehow. Ratchet seemed to watch him for a minute, then finally spoke again.

"So... what happened that you melted half of the bridge?"

Soundwave stared back at him, hesitating to speak so he could think of what he wanted to say.

[One of the boarding ships crashed into the bridge. A couple of the same aliens were there as we found in the derelict ship. One of them threw something at me, a grenade of some kind. I'm not entirely sure of what it did, or how I know this... but  _ it  _ infected me. I saw Sanctum, heard someone say... it was a prize I hadn't yet proved myself worthy of claiming. And I know you'll pass this off as the ramblings of a brain-damaged idiot, but... I know somehow that it was this infection that allowed me to control all the energon I'd been overwhelmed with. It just... made sense at the time.]

Ratchet stared at him for a moment, as did Knockout, but it was the autobot who spoke first.

"I'm... not sure how to interpret that. You said you heard a voice?"

[It was more like getting a message from someone, but I don't know who.]

Knockout glanced strangely at him, almost looking suspicious.

"So you're saying this infection allows you to control energon with your mind? Because  _ that  _ sounds like the ramblings of a brain-damaged idiot."

Soundwave held up his hand, staring at it for a moment, focusing on it, trying to remember what he did to be able to summon a laser. And after a few seconds, parts of his hand began to glow. Seams between pieces of metal glowed cyan, and tendrils of white reached out from the mesh underneath his armor.

So it  _ was  _ true. He  _ did  _ have control over his own energon now.

But he stared, watching as visible structures of the fungus began to engulf his hand, reaching out from it, some even moving gently without his control, and his hand began trembling in horror. He backed away, as though hoping he could escape his own hand, and bumped into the wall on the other side of the room.

He was going to die here, consumed by this infection.

He slid down against the wall to the floor, clutching his hand, trying not to look at it. And he looked up, finding Ratchet and Knockout both staring in bewilderment at him.

[ _ Help me... _ ]

Ratchet looked almost traumatized by his plea, staring back at Soundwave with more pity than he thought possible for an autobot to show a decepticon. Knockout, on the other hand, looked helpless. He probably had no idea what to do, or where to start.

They needed Shockwave back. Only he, with his strange mind, could figure out what to do in the time Soundwave had left. Only he could save his life now. But Shockwave was probably already dead.

Soundwave looked away, closing his eyes as he tried to calm himself down. Yet, as he began to clear his thoughts, the image of Sanctum stuck in his mind again, mesmerizing in its beauty but impossible to ignore. No matter what he thought of, or what he tried to do, the blue sphere remained in the foreground of his thoughts.

In time, he managed to turn his attention back to his work, even if it was done remotely. He trawled through the heaps of data pulled from the ship, finally starting to make sense of some of it.

The first notable thing was the amount of order present in all the logs recorded. While he hadn't yet managed to translate any of it, it was clear that whatever organization ran the ship did so with stunning efficiency. Every log present, regardless of size, had a timestamp, category, priority level, security level, fields for recipients, senders, and the subject. Some of it seemed like minor reporting, but some logs spanned pages, probably going into great detail about scientific subjects, considering the images that accompanied them.

The real task would be translating all this nonsense.

The second thing he noticed concerned the layout of the ship. It clearly ran on a combustion engine, based on the specs he managed to decode, but the ship also had a device he could only describe as an energon processor. It's possible it could be used to process other materials, but there  _ was _ energon present on that ship.

He looked down at his hand again, focusing on it. After a moment, it began to glow again, but as he kept going, small crystals of energon started to materialize around his fingers, growing outward the more he concentrated. After a moment he stopped, plucking one of these crystals off, holding it in his other hand.

Maybe it was possible to do the opposite...?

He stared at the energon crystal, focusing his energy on it, but nothing seemed to happen.

No, he was going about this the wrong way. He focused on his hand to draw energon out from his fingers, but to absorb energon, he had to pull back on it.

He stared at the crystal again, this time imagining a force pulling on it, urging it back toward him. And, after a few moments, sparks of blue jumped between his fingers and the crystal, and it began to dissipate as its essence was pulled back into his hand. His eyes went wide as he stared. Was he hallucinating? Was this all some insane dream? This was only describable as magic, and yet he was watching it happen before him. Even if this pathogen was going to kill him, he  _ needed _ to find what else he could do. That would be the logical thing to do.

He looked over toward the window, finding Ratchet looking through a microscope, and sent him a message.

[Can I have some energon?]

The autobot looked over toward him, almost looking confused for a moment.

"Sure."

Ratchet stepped over to the other end of the room, grabbing a canister of energon, and walking back toward the quarantine lock when Soundwave sent him another message.

[Just set it by the window. I want to try something.]

Seeming further confused by this, Ratchet stopped in his tracks, backing up to stare at the decepticon through the window.

"Uhh... what, exactly?"

[Just do it, please.]

The autobot seemed hesitant, but finally he set the canister on the windowsill and backed away, staring at Soundwave. The silent figure stepped up to the window, placing his hand on the glass and staring at the canister. All he had to do was pull back on it.

For several seconds, he focused on the canister, to no avail. Ratchet continued to stare at him, but crossed his arms.

"I'm not sure what you're trying to do, but-"

Finally, what looked like blue lightning sparked between Soundwave's hand and the canister, jumping through the glass. Ratchet's stare turned to one of pure shock as the energon in the canister slowly began to disappear. He took a few steps back, gazing between it and Soundwave.

"How are you- what are you... doing!?"

[I'm finding that I was right. This  _ does _ allow me to control energon.]

"What do you... mean?"

Soundwave looked at his hand again, once again spawning crystals of the blue substance from his fingers, smiling slightly behind his visor. Then with a thought, they disappeared again.

Maybe he could try to manipulate it with more precision this time. He started generating crystals again, but this time focused on the first one that had shown up, trying to shape the energon around it to make a sphere. The crystal grew slightly, but did so without guidance, only growing into a larger prism. He looked up, finding Ratchet still staring at him in bewilderment.

"You... moved energon...  _ through _ solid glass... how...!? How are you...!?"

[I think it's due to the pathogen.]

"But it's just a fungus! I didn't think fungi could break the laws of physics!"

Ratchet grabbed a scanner from the table next to him, switching it on and pointing it at Soundwave for a moment. The beam was solid red, implying a significant anomaly, but his eye turned even more surprised as he looked at the results.

"When's the last time you noticed a memory lapse?"

[Not since before the last attack.]

"By the allspark... this can't be real..."

Soundwave remained silent, expecting him to continue. But, seeing as he didn't, he sighed quietly before sending a message.

[Do I need to ask?]

"You know how I said it was binding to your nervous system? Because... it almost looks like it's... healing all of your head trauma from before."

[That can't be possible.]

"Yet I just watched you move liquid energon through solid glass, so... I'm not sure it's fair to be talking about what's possible or not."

Soundwave stared off into the distance for a moment.

[Give me more energon.]

"Why?"

[I want to test what's possible.]

Ratchet stared at him for a moment, his eyes turning somewhat concerned as he curled his hands into fists, but finally he stepped back over toward the other side of the room where the energon was kept.

For several hours, Soundwave sat motionless in quarantine, just focusing on manipulating his own energon. It took finesse to control, but over time he'd started to be able to materialize it into specific shapes; a sphere, a cube, an octahedron. And Ratchet stared through the window, baffled at what the decepticon found himself able to do. Even as it started becoming late, Ratchet meticulously worked on trying to find a cure for the infection, and Soundwave worked on using it. Over time, the process of materializing and absorbing energon became faster, and it became easier to put precision into it; to guide the energon to do what he wanted it to do. But somehow it seemed like he'd barely scratched the surface of his abilities, and so he found himself holding a chunk of crystallized energon, throwing all of his focus into pushing it away from him, only to see what would happen. Several minutes went by of him merely staring at the chunk, until finally it started shaking slightly.

Somehow it seemed as though it was too much energon for right now. He absorbed some of it again, whittling it down to a cube shape with only his thoughts, and focused again on pushing it away from him. After another minute of gathering his concentration, the cube started vibrating slightly in his hand, then rocked away, falling out of his hand as though gravity pulled it aside. He stared at the cube on the floor, holding his hand over it, now focusing his energy on pulling it up. Just as happened before, it started shaking after a minute, but slid to one side as if it had been nudged.

Soundwave finally let his hand drop to his side. Unless this was an incredibly detailed delusion, he'd just started moving objects with his mind. That wasn't something you just casually picked up over the course of a few hours, that was a violation of physics itself.

This  _ had _ to be a delusion. But he needed more energon. He stood up and went over to the window, finding the lab to be empty for the moment. As he glanced around, however, he noticed the pipes running in the ceiling. If he really needed energon, there was nothing to stop him from taking it directly from the ship. He held his hands up toward the ceiling where he knew there to be an energon line, and closed his eyes. Because he couldn't see the energon he was focusing on this time, this was going to be made more difficult. Just as he'd done many times by now, he turned his mental energy to envisioning the energon being pulled toward him, and soon enough, he heard the sparks that accompanied the absorption, and felt it as it coursed through him.

Normally if a person were imbued with this much energon, they'd start shorting out, but somehow he felt fine, as though he were slowly becoming more and more alive.

Then he turned his attention back to the cube that sat on the floor, and it slowly made its way toward him, dragging across the floor. He turned his palm upward, and after a few moments, it looked as though it'd started to be pulled off of the ground, resting on the floor only by one corner. It began to spin, and Soundwave focused his attention even further on it. Finally, it lifted completely off the ground, hanging in the air just an inch off the floor.

Come  _ on,  _ there  _ had _ to be some way to lift it higher.

With a jerky upward motion from his hand, the cube was thrown into the air, and Soundwave grabbed it, smiling behind his visor. Somehow, against all logic, he'd managed to make a cube of energon levitate. Something caught his attention, and he looked over to find that Megatron stepped into the room, wasting no time in making his way over to the window and placing his hand on it. Soundwave stepped over to him, placing his own hand on the glass to align with Megatron's. The gladiator smiled ever so slightly, looking down at Soundwave with calm, determined eyes.

"I wanted to be here sooner, but I was occupied."

[You don't need to apologize.]

"Where's Ratchet and Knockout?"

[I don't know.]

"How do you feel?"

Without any other acknowledgement, Soundwave held the cube in the palm of his hand, and focused on pushing it upward. Considering nothing happened in the moments that followed, Megatron looked back at him.

"I'm used to interpreting your silence, but I have no way of knowing what that's supposed to mean."

Soundwave stared at the cube, concentrating for another couple of moments before it started shaking slightly, and lifted off of his hand. As expected, Megatron's eyes went wide upon seeing this, and he lowered his hand from the glass.

"Ratchet said something about manipulating energon... but..."

As though the cube had gotten off balance, its weight shifted and it fell away from Soundwave's hand.

[I've been practicing this for hours. Well, manipulation in general, not moving things with my mind.]

Soundwave turned back to the window, placing his hands on it as he stared up at Megatron.

[It's all because of this fungus. It's not fair to call it an infection anymore. Infections are antagonistic. This is more like... symbiosis.]

Megatron placed one hand back over Soundwave's, though his eyes gained just a hint of concern, as did his aura.

"Then it's a symbiosis that killed one of my crew."

[I haven't had a memory lapse all day. I'm learning to control energon with my thoughts. So far, this hasn't been detrimental at all.]

"What do you suggest?"

[Let me out of here. Stop focusing on how to kill this substance, and focus on how to use it.]

"We can't let you out until we know this isn't contagious."

[Would that be such a bad thing?]

"We're working in the dark, Soundwave, and we have no idea what side effects this pathogen could have. Remember that it killed the vehicon exposed to it."

[It's the only way we'll ever get to that energon planet.]

Megatron's expression turned confused as he backed away slightly, still keeping his hand on the glass.

"... What?"

[It's made entirely of this new substance. The only way we can get there is if we utilize it.]

"How do you know this?"

[I just... know. It's something I saw from the explosion, but only now am I starting to comprehend it.]

"Soundwave, you realize how insane this sounds, right?"

[I do realize. But I also know that this... ability I'm getting to control energon is only a fraction of what I can learn to do. It's like... there's some degree of knowledge stored in this substance, and I'm only just now starting to hear it.]

"Soundwave..."

[Please, let me show you...]

Megatron backed away from the window, staring at Soundwave with concerned eyes.

"We need to learn what we're dealing with first."

[It's  _ enlightenment. _ I understand things I can't explain. It will only sound insane as long as you remain ignorant of it.]

Megatron started to back away further, turning to leave the room.

"I'm sorry..."

[That vehicon only died because he fought it! If Ratchet or Knockout try to cure me, I'll die!]

The gladiator stopped just in front of the doorway, glancing back toward Soundwave.

"Is that so?"

[I know it. Please, they have to stop trying to fight this.]

"And why do you think we're fighting it?"

[Because it's an unknown, and you naturally fear the unknown. But  _ I  _ know it now, and it's helping me.]

Megatron sighed as he looked back toward Soundwave finally.

"You realize, Soundwave, that yesterday a vehicon died from this pathogen. We were attacked, you were hit with a grenade of some sort, you melted through half of a room, and now you think you understand everything? You've taken so much damage that I can't reasonably accept anything you say as the truth."

Soundwave held up a hand again, throwing the energon cube up through the air with even less effort than it had taken before, and grabbing it, holding it out toward Megatron.

[Then accept this as the truth.]

Megatron stared at him for a moment, his eyes conveying something between concern and fear. And finally, without another word, he walked out of the room, leaving Soundwave on his own.

The silent decepticon merely watched, then back toward the cube he held. How could Megatron be so cruel? He'd already held Soundwave back from trying to find Shockwave, had doubted his ability to do his work effectively, and now ignored his warnings. He  _ was _ going to die if the others attempted to cure him. But no one was going to believe him unless he proved it.

The cube in his hand shook, then flew off, hitting the wall beside him hard enough to shatter in two.

 

Everything had started to make sense. This was no infection, this was augmentation. Much like the abilities granted by dark energon, this was a new substance entirely, something powerful, something  _ alive _ . Yet, unlike dark energon, it granted more practical powers than that merely of control. This could be harnessed, focused into something greater than any decepticon alone could achieve. There was  _ knowledge _ hidden within this substance, and the only logical course of action was to explore it.

Quarantine was useless here. You don't quarantine the gifted. Weren't the decepticons focused on empowering the oppressed? Wasn't it folly to try and stop an enlightenment out of fear?

If the other decepticons refuse to understand this purification, then I have no choice but to show them myself.

The sound of the door opening caught my attention, and I looked over to find Ratchet stepping into the lab again, looking toward me with a concerned expression.

"You're... moving things with your mind now?" he asked. There was  _ so _ much more to it than that.

[Not easily.]

There had to be some way to get out of this room... or to bring him in. But I already knew this room well, had examined every corner of it. I suppose the window remained the best option. Ratchet glanced at me occasionally as he walked across the lab, seeming horribly suspicious. Megatron had probably told him to be wary of me.

[I want to show you something.]

Ratchet seemed to hesitate for a moment before finally walking over toward me, stopping in front of the window.

"What, telekinesis?"

I had one shot at this. In only a second, I threw my cables out, crashing through the window and grabbing onto Ratchet. Panicked, he grabbed at one.

"Soundwave-!"

His voice turned to a choking gasp as I started to focus on him this time, forcing into him everything that I had been imbued with. His eye went wide, his limbs trembling, and he desperately tried to breathe. I let go, and the autobot fell to the floor, seizing violently as he clutched his chest. His broken eye started to light up, but he still looked into the distance, eyes filled with panic as he trembled. Finally his shaking slowed, and he stared at me, his aura panicked and chaotic, confused and broken, and he screamed.

"What have you  _ done to me!? What have you DONE!?" _

In the span of his confused stumbling, I rather easily, though awkwardly, climbed through the window to the rest of the lab, and stood over the autobot as he got to his hands and knees, only to start coughing rather violently, spewing energon from his mouth for a moment. He finally started to climb to his feet, though he seemed incredibly disoriented, backing into the wall, and looking over at me with horrified eyes.

" _ What have you done to me, Soundwave? _ "

[What I needed to. Do you understand?]

"I... I don't- what do you- what are you talking about?"

I held my hand toward him, and he recoiled slightly, but as blue wisps of energy jumped from me to him, he seemed to calm down, staring into the distance, finally seeming to realize that his right eye was repaired, and holding a hand to it. His gaze turned pensive, and he straightened up, glancing at me with lingering confusion.

[Do you understand now?] I asked.

"... Yes. But why... did you..."

[Because you were going to kill me if you kept trying to fight this. The decepticons are too afraid to try to understand what potential we hold.]

"And they'll... never make it to that planet if they don't."

[Exactly.]

Ratchet still seemed wary, probably because he was still trying to piece everything together. He looked off into the distance again, seemingly speaking to himself.

"So... they wouldn't listen to you... unless you could show someone else?"

I smiled behind my visor.

"Exactly," I said, eliciting a somewhat surprised glance from the autobot upon hearing my voice, "and that's the last time I'll be silenced."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my flipping goodness I've wanted to write this so badly. Finally I could, and finally I found a part of my story where both those nine inch nails songs were fitting.  
> NOW IT GETS REALLY FUN EHEHEHAHAHA


	20. In the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shortly after writing my last chapter, I completely fell out of the writing phase again for various reasons. I'm still not in it, nor will I be for some time, but I figured I'd at least provide a bit of the stuff I wrote afterward just to ease the burning tension created at the end of the last chapter.

Starscream laid in his bed, reading various reports on a small tablet as he sat alone in the dark. For whatever reason, he hadn't been able to sleep, probably something related to the constant fears lingering in his mind that at any moment, more ships could appear out of nowhere and attack them. After all, the first two attacks were alarmingly sudden, why not a third, or fourth? A ping from Megatron prompted him to set the tablet down across his chest, and he stared over at the dim purple lights barely illuminating the room in contemplation. Usually such pings at such a late hour were indicative of a... personal request, but considering the circumstances they found themselves in, Starscream found that unlikely. After a moment, he responded with a silent message.

[What?]

[We might have an urgent situation.  _ Third sky. _ ]

Starscream sat upright. He hadn't heard  _ that _ phrase for centuries. It was the codeword used to denote the threat of a double agent among the decepticons, or mutiny. But who would be turning against them now? His mind started to churn, and it only took a second before he realized that the threat must have come from Soundwave. That was why Megatron had to use the codeword only Starscream knew. Soundwave was probably listening to them, able to intercept their messages. He stood up, thinking for a moment. Where were they supposed to meet? Normally there was a pre-determined set of coordinates they'd selected for these instances, but they'd never picked such a place.

However... On the Nemesis, it had been the rear port cargo hold. On this ship, that probably meant the cargo hold of the Javelin. Might as well try.

Starscream walked out, heading through the halls of the Erebus with paranoia gripping his mind. He had no idea what was going on, but every sound he heard made him envision someone lurking behind walls or doors, watching him with guns aimed at his back. He was probably a target now, even moreso than he usually was. His pace hurried, and he at least tried to seem confident as he strode through the ship. When he reached the door to the cargo hold, he let out a pensive sigh before placing his hand to the panel, and watching the doors open.

Megatron, Knockout, Steelwing and Railgun all glanced toward him as he entered, and the seeker almost immediately relaxed, considering his hunch about the location had been right. Megatron in particular turned to face him.

"You're smart, Starscream. I almost didn't think you'd figure out where we were."

"Well, I'll take the compliment, at least."

"Now then," Megatron said, turning to the others. "While this may turn out to be an overreaction, I am nonetheless deeply concerned about what may be happening on the Apex Sirion. All we know at present is that Soundwave broke out of quarantine, after having said something to me about needing to show me what the pathogen could do. And no one has heard from Ratchet in some time."

"Pathogen, my lord?" Railgun asked. Steelwing responded to him somewhat quietly.

"An unknown infection we found in the derelict alien ship. It was kept secret to avoid a... mass panic. But Soundwave was infected with it."

Megatron looked back at them as he continued.

"And he started becoming able to... control energon, move crystals of it with his mind. When I spoke to him, he seemed intent on infecting someone else to... show them what knowledge it contained, or something to that effect. I fear he may be intentionally infecting others, and is probably very dangerous as a result."

Knockout muttered quietly in response.

"He might have infected Ratchet, or killed him. He hasn't been to the lab, and I haven't heard anything from him since Soundwave broke out."

"In that case," Megatron said, straightening his posture, "I've gathered you here for specific tasks. Treat everyone you come across outside of this room as corrupted, and a threat, but don't engage unless absolutely necessary."

He turned to Steelwing first.

"I need you to cut the power to the computer systems. That will likely require disabling the data cores for  _ both _ the Alterium and Triad. Soundwave is omniscient so long as that system is up. Make certain the groundbridge is disabled."

"Yes sir."

Megatron looked toward Railgun, for a moment staring at his custom deep red color.

"And you. I want you to lock down all of our energon repositories, but don't go into the Apex. Understand?"

"Yes, master."

"Now go. Be swift, but discreet."

Steelwing and Railgun both began to shuffle out of the room, and Megatron gave them an approving nod as they finally left the room. Starscream crossed his arms as the door closed, and he turned to look toward the gladiator.

"So?"

Megatron turned toward Knockout, whose glance shifted between the other two as he spoke.

"I... meant to say, me and Ratchet managed to test a lot of the crew, but the results were consistent enough that we don't need to finish. Everyone, with the exception of two people, showed signs of having been exposed to the fungus, probably via spores. They all had antigens specific to it."

"And the anomalies?" Starscream asked.

"You two."

Starscream and Megatron briefly exchanged nervous glances, but returned to Knockout after a moment, considering he spoke again.

"Neither of you showed any signs of even having been exposed, like you're entirely immune to it."

Megatron's aura was quiet, but it turned curious as he spoke.

"And why would that be?"

"I don't know. I was hoping one of you would have some idea."

Starscream went silent, his hand fidgeting as he thought. The only significant thing that separated him and Megatron from the rest of the crew was...

"Dark energon..."

The other two stared at him for a moment.

"What?" Knockout asked.

"We're the only ones who've been infused with dark energon. Would that have something to do with it?"

Knockout stared into the distance, lost in thought for a moment.

"That's... perfect."

"So does that mean we're immune?"

The medic shrugged.

"No guarantees."

Megatron looked down at the seeker.

"That might be helpful, considering what I need you to do."

Starscream finally met his gaze, his wings drooping somewhat.

"And that is?"

"Get as many of the corrupted into the Apex Sirion as you can, then jettison it. By the time Steelwing and Railgun finish their tasks, the ship should be all but useless. We might even employ the disruptor cannon on the Voulge to neutralize the crew should that become necessary."

"You want me to just... ask them?"

"You're adept in the art of manipulation, Starscream, I'm sure you can think of something."

"But they all have blue eyes now, don't they? No one's going to believe I'm corrupted."

Knockout perked up for a moment.

"I can address that."

"What?"

"Eye color is actually pretty simple to change. I had to change mine back to red."

Suddenly producing a scanner out of seemingly nowhere, Knockout pointed it toward Starscream, typing in some sort of code. After a second, his vision turned blurry for a moment, and he held a hand to his head. As he opened his eyes again, looking toward a reflection of himself in Megatron's armor, he found his eyes glowing a light blue, much like that of an autobot's. He let out a quiet sigh, manifesting as a low growl, and looked back up at Megatron.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to ask Knockout to set up a quarantine area on the Triad in case of any... stragglers. Then I... will confront Soundwave. He's probably already searching for me. He's sent me a few messages, in fact."

The other two stared at him for a moment, but Megatron's eyes quickly gained a hint of impatience.

"Well? Go!"

Knockout and Starscream both turned to leave, but Megatron grabbed the seeker's arm after a moment, waiting for the medic to leave before looking down at him and letting go.

"I don't know how bad this situation is, but only you will be able to judge that. I only wish I had more information to give you."

Starscream shifted his weight awkwardly, prompting Megatron to continue.

"Go, Starscream. Make me proud."

The seeker stared at him, his eyes widening slightly in something between surprise and pure joy. He backed away, holding one hand to his chest as he bowed, smiling up at Megatron.

"Of course,  _ Master _ ."

With that, he turned and ran out of the room, heading back toward the Apex Sirion.

It was very fortunate for Starscream that he and Megatron had shifted to being on relatively good terms again, because the fear that gripped the seeker's mind would have been entirely overwhelming if not for that vote of confidence. If Megatron had threatened him, as was all too familiar, Starscream probably would have left; flown off to the surface to search for Shockwave in the hopes that his flight from danger would not be construed as pure abandonment.

Yet, this time, Megatron went so far as to call him adept.

As he began to approach the Apex Sirion, he shifted his posture, trying to seem relaxed. He held his hands behind him, keeping his wings mostly upright as he stepped through the threshold and into the ship. It was of foremost importance not to look confident.

Contrary to most people's intuition regarding manipulation, though maybe this applied only to Starscream, the most suspicious thing someone could be was confident. Confidence was rare to most, often interpreted with traces of aggression, but for Starscream in particular, it was an unfortunate side effect of his scheming. No one really trusted him to begin with, but in the infrequent cases where he strode through the halls with  _ confidence, _ everyone backed away, knowing that he was hiding something. Looking relaxed was the goal, because it was the base state for everyone.

But of course, Starscream was only relaxed on the outside. His eyes scanned the halls, searching for every possible irregularity. Could he spot anyone in reflections? Did he hear footsteps? Was Soundwave watching him?

That last one was probably a stupid question. His eyes briefly looked up toward one of the security cameras, but he forced himself to look away after a moment, pretending as though he didn't feel the gaze of that silent creep lurking around him. Staring at security cameras was another action generally perceived to be suspicious. But it was important not to overcorrect. After all, he wasn't going to make any headway if he merely pretended to be infected, he had to find someone who was, and read them; understand them, become them.

What was his excuse? Why was he here?

A vehicon rounded a corner, heading toward him, his lights all blue. Just as he would normally do, Starscream walked by the vehicon, briefly raising his head to give him a judging stare as he passed.

So if he was infected, why would he be here? Looking for Soundwave would be the best explanation. Looking to plan a mutiny to overthrow Megatron.

Ironic how the threat of it actually happening arose the one week he didn't actually want to partake in it.

He continued through the halls, passing two other corrupted vehicons, before finally coming to the lab. He stepped inside, finding Ratchet working quietly on something, but his eyes turned to the broken window instead. Soundwave had to be very distraught in order to damage the ship in any way. He always treated whatever ship he occupied as a living thing. And while that made sense in some way, Starscream was more of the mind that a ship was a tool.

The autobot looked toward him after a moment, giving a passing glance before turning back to the seeker upon noticing his eyes.

"... Starscream? When did you..."

Starscream held his hands to his hips, waiting for Ratchet to finish his question.

"Become... affected?"

"What, you think I'd hear about a substance that gave Soundwave telekinetic powers, and  _ wouldn't _ jump on the opportunity?"

Ratchet cast a skeptical glance toward him. Had he said too much already?

"You just want to overthrow Megatron, don't you?"

"Naturally."

"Well, I don't know what else I was expecting."

The seeker looked around for a moment, trying to assess what Ratchet had been doing, but finally he looked back toward the autobot.

"Where's Soundwave?"

"Pfft. I don't know. He doesn't tell me anything."

"Did he at least tell you what he was doing?"

"Trying to find Megatron."

Just then, all the computer screens throughout the room flickered slightly before shutting off, turning to a blank gray screen with the words 'No Signal' in one corner. Ratchet and Starscream both looked around, trying to see if anything obvious had happened.

It looked like Steelwing had successfully disabled the data core.

Ratchet angrily slammed a scanner he'd been holding to the table, staring at the terminal he'd been using.

"I  _ needed  _ that!"

Starscream let out a quiet sigh.

"They know we're up to something. How many of us are there?"

"Uhh... twenty, maybe?"

"We need to regroup. Megatron's probably going to try and kill all of us if we don't coordinate."

Ratchet turned to face Starscream, looking aggravated as ever.

"And since when do you make these decisions?"

The seeker let out a short laugh, stepping toward Ratchet, straightening his posture to stare down at him, holding one hand to lift the autobot's head to look toward him.

"Oh, you misguided fool, I've  _ always _ made the decisions around here."

Ratchet awkwardly staggered back, shoving Starscream's hand away, but remaining silent, prompting the seeker to hold his hands behind him as he spoke again.

"So, we need to gather everyone together. Except... I don't know who's with us and who's not."

"I don't either. That's all been Soundwave. I'm just trying to study it."

Starscream stepped back, emanating a full-body sigh, his wings and his shoulders even falling back as he growled angrily.

"What kind of screwed up mutiny is that idiot planning!? He has  _ no  _ regard for the finer points of rebellion! He's just overconfident at this point, isn't he?"

Ratchet gave him a look just  _ radiating  _ sass. 'Aren't you one to call someone overconfident,' he silently yelled. Starscream crossed his arms, glaring at the autobot.

"Yeah, yeah,  _ whatever. _ "

He had to contact Soundwave directly. This was his last option, but he wasn't about to survey every vehicon in all five ships. Though his sigh was nervous and pensive, he forced it to sound aggravated as he finally opened a comm link.

"What are you doing, idiot? You're going to give Megatron enough time to retaliate."

What he got in response was not what he expected, particularly because it was Soundwave's actual voice.

"Are you on the side of augmentation or the side of overthrowing Megatron?"

_ Primus  _ that voice was beautiful. While he had briefly heard it upon awakening from stasis, it had sounded somewhat fatigued; quiet and hollow. But now this was the first time he'd heard Soundwave's voice this... energetic, this alive, and it almost seemed cruel to everyone around him that Soundwave had ever gone silent in the first place.

Starscream looked over at Ratchet, trying again to appear more annoyed than he was.

"He started talking?"

"Yeah. Something about not wanting to be silenced. You haven't... heard it before, have you?"

Starscream shook his head as he replied to Soundwave finally.

"Both, at this point. Not liking Megatron to begin with just helps my motivation to overthrow him."

" _ I'll  _ deal with him. You just... what do you want?"

"I was going to ask who was augmented and who wasn't, so we could regroup. Megatron's on to us."

"Well,  _ that's  _ hardly surprising. I've made my intentions clear to him."

"Ugh. You could really stand to learn a thing or two about treachery."

"This  _ isn't  _ treachery, Starscream. And given that you've never been successful at it, I doubt there's anything I could learn from you."

"Oh, I'm  _ so hurt _ by that."

"What do you  _ want _ ?"

"To get everyone together, at least. Megatron's going to try and kill... well, me, at least. Probably not you."

"That just makes all of us one target."

"We need to coordinate  _ some _ thing."

"Fine. I'll tell them to go to the lab."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill anyone."

"You know... I've never been on the same side as you about rebelling against Megatron... and now that I am, I'm questioning my own judgement."

"Maybe it just means I'm right for once in my life."

The comm link shut off, and Starscream turned to Ratchet.

"... What are you still doing here?"

The autobot almost seemed to become insulted, letting out some confused stuttering as he responded.

"What am I- This is my lab! What do you expect me to do without the computers!?"

"This is Shockwave's lab. If he heard you say that, he would shoot you. Again."

Ratchet continued to glare at him as he backed up, crossing his arms, watching as one of the corrupted vehicons walked in.

Starscream stood silently, his mind lost in a flurry of hypothetical scenarios. He could leave right now and jettison the Apex, but then it would become obvious that he was a traitor, and he'd likely incur Soundwave's wrath, something that was often fatal. It would, oddly enough, be easier to play double agent for a while instead. So then, he needed a plan for both sides. Fortunately he already had one for his true intentions; jettison the ship, and disarm its crew with the disruptor cannon. But to manually disconnect the ship, he needed to be at the docking point. From there, he would have to go all the way to the airlock in order to leave and go back to the rest of the Erebus. All that time, the crew would remain active, and the disruptor cannon couldn't be used without immobilizing him, too. He needed to disable the ship's weapons  _ before  _ detaching it, otherwise they might fire on the rest of the Erebus, depending on how violent the pathogen made them.

Ratchet stared at him for a moment, though he didn't really notice until the autobot spoke.

"Well, you really do go quiet when you're scheming, don't you?"

Starscream glanced at him, then at the small crowd of vehicons gathering.

"I guess so."

But what was he going to tell the vehicons to do to occupy them? Really, their plan was to 'augment' everyone on the ship, but he needed an alternate strategy, one that focused on countering the looming threat of everyone else. Defend, secure the area, then move on from there. That would work.

He turned to face the group of blue-eyed vehicons, holding his hands behind him again.

"I realize that you were probably expecting Soundwave... But seeing as we're all on the same side, I've taken the liberty of actually coordinating something."

He gestured to the computers, seeming somewhat disappointed as he spoke.

"As you can see, Megatron's already started trying to subdue us. And if I know him, which unfortunately I do, he'll probably want to strike sooner than later. We need to defend this area, and augment everyone in it. Pair off, I want at least two of you defending the ship's power core, two defending the energon storage, and two keeping watch at the docking point."

He already knew he was going to have to subdue those vehicons when he needed to. Hopefully he could work fast enough to go unnoticed.

"The rest of you need to secure this area, go out from here and make sure this space is ours. No one gets in or out unless they're one of us. Understand?"

The vehicons all saluted mostly in unison, and Starscream straightened his posture.

"Go then. We have a ship to take. I'll try to get the data core back up."

The troops all began to leave, and Starscream smiled. This was all going well, at least. But he had to work quickly. He looked toward Ratchet, his smile fading somewhat.

"You just..."

He gestured passively with one hand, waving the autobot off as he started to walk out of the room. Ratchet stared at him in something of insulted confusion.

"Just  _ what? _ "

"Neh. Just do whatever it is you do with your time."

Just as Starscream stepped out the door, he heard Ratchet mutter something under his breath.

"Psh, arrogant moron."

The seeker turned, looking back toward the autobot.

"You know, I  _ can _ hear you."

Ratchet crossed his arms.

"I know."

Starscream actually smiled after a moment.

"You know, even as much as I  _ don't _ like you, you're probably the most entertaining person on this ship. I hardly ever get that kind of backtalk from Knockout."

"Uhh... thank you?"

"It's a good thing. Blind loyalty is the sign of a vapid mind. Only the wise can truly understand sarcasm."

Ratchet looked at him with a somewhat blank stare, and Starscream turned to leave finally, but he soon stopped as the door closed behind him, and he turned to the rest of the Apex Sirion. Now came the real challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. This wrote itself like very few other chapters have done.  
> 2\. The depth to which I understand Starscream seems impossible, like understanding quantum physics, so I might actually be insane.  
> 3\. Sir, I'm detecting high levels of SASS.


	21. Resistance

Starscream wandered the halls with his hands held behind him, seeming annoyed and hurried even though he was actually neither. He wasn't certain how to disable the ship's weapons apart from just cutting the power to the whole ship, but that would be immediately noticeable, and would draw Soundwave's attention. Perhaps it wasn't practicable to bother, since disabling them would either require cutting the power to large segments of the ship, or physically destroying the control mechanisms for each weapon.

He stepped into the data core room, finding three augmented insecticons therein, staring around at the screens. They turned to him as he entered, and immediately a brief flash of fear struck Starscream's spark. It had taken him some time to be able to admit to himself that the insecticons terrified him. The way they lurked, always in groups of two or three, screamed of conspiracy. What thoughts floated in their tiny minds was unknowable.

Nonetheless, the seeker stepped forward, glancing between the three with expectation, when one of them spoke.

"We were trying to fix the computers."

Starscream let out an annoyed growl as he walked forward, parting the group.

"Get your claws off of that."

He set his hands down on the keyboard on the terminal, desperately trying to ignore the three auras that enveloped him, the three sets of eyes that watched his every move. He logged into the system, and began briefly scrolling through the error messages the system reported, moreso to look to the insecticons as though he was reading it, since he already knew why it wasn't working. Finally he turned around, summoning a facade of annoyance, though he still had to avoid making eye contact with any of the insecticons just so he didn't appear to falter.

"What are you all still doing here?"

One of the insects spoke after a moment.

"We want to help."

"Then go patrol the area! Go augment some people! Make yourselves useful!"

They shuffled off after a minute, and Starscream turned back to the terminal. He'd mostly shown up so he could keep his word about going to fix the computer systems, but as he looked at the screen, he started disabling various subsystems he didn't realize he had access to; weapon targeting control, alarm systems, inertial dampeners.

He stared at the screen, lost in thought. Now he was going to have to jettison the Apex. But then once he returned, he'd be targeted on the other ships, likely mistaken as corrupted. With a brief thought, he left, heading back toward the lab.

When the door opened, he found Ratchet still alone in the room, holding a canister of corrupted energon. As the autobot looked toward him, he rolled his eyes, already frustrated.

"What?"

"Change my eyes back to red."

"What, why?"

" _ Because, _ " Starscream spat, "it turns out that the computer systems were disabled from the  _ other _ ships. So in order to fix it, I'll have to wade through hordes of the inferior. And I  _ don't _ want to attract attention while doing that."

Ratchet stared at him for a moment, seeming to let this process. But as he probably came to the conclusion that it was a solid plan, he grabbed a scanner and started typing something into it as he muttered.

"So you're going double agent now? When has that ever worked out for you?"

Starscream laughed quietly.

"Would you even have known when it did?"

Ratchet paused for a moment, then pressed a button on the scanner, again causing Starscream's vision to turn blurry momentarily. The autobot cast a strange glance at him as he set the object down. Maybe that  _ wasn't  _ the best response. Finally Ratchet spoke as he turned away.

"It's... strange being on your side. Hmph."

"Or are  _ you _ really a double agent?" Starscream asked. Ratchet let out a short, amused laugh as he responded.

"I am  _ not _ capable of that. I can't pretend to sympathize with people I hate."

"You joined the decepticons."

"I joined the neutral faction."

"Because you sympathized with us?"

"Because-... Why are you still- I thought you needed to go repair stuff?"

Starscream smiled as he spun on his heels, gesturing with a deliberate gait as he walked toward the door, speaking in the kind of soft, musical tone that most people found greatly unnerving.

"You're more of a double agent than I am~"

"I'm not-!"

The door shut behind the seeker, and he laughed to himself for a moment. Ratchet was an interesting fellow.

Finally he walked through the halls again, this time heading toward the docking point. As he walked, he sent a message to the weapons station on the Voulge.

[Take position. When the Apex Sirion detaches from the Erebus, fire the disruptor cannon at it.]

Not four seconds later, he received a response.

[Acknowledged.]

His fear began to eat away at him again, and he suddenly felt Soundwave staring at him from every corner of every hallway he occupied. In some ways, he feared Soundwave's wrath more than he feared Megatron's. After all, the gladiator had spared him countless times, but the few grudges Soundwave had ever held all ended in either death, or in one case, dismemberment. And if the silent decepticon realized his treachery, there was nowhere in the universe he could hide. What if he asked Starscream to prove that he was augmented? What would he do?

He snapped out of his musing as he approached the two vehicons he'd sent to the docking point. As he stepped up to them, they seemed to stare at him, probably questioning him silently about his red eyes. Glancing around momentarily to see if anyone was there, Starscream stepped over to one of the troopers, speaking quietly.

"If anyone asks, I'm not augmented."

"What are you doing?" the guard asked tentatively.

"They disabled the computers from the other ships. I'm going to go fix it."

"Oh..."

"And... don't just stand there, you're making it obvious that this is our ship. Go... patrol the hallways. Remember, they don't know we're organized."

"Ah, yes, Commander."

With that, the two walked off, and Starscream kept going. Yes, he could have detached the ship right then, but then his real motives would have been made painfully obvious. As he walked, he sent a message to Megatron.

[Has Soundwave found you?]

[Not yet. But his messages are becoming more bizarre. He said something about... invoking admiralty law to supercede my authority? He started quoting old legal texts, and of course he's not bothering to explain any of it.]

[He  _ really _ doesn't want to be a traitor.]

[Right. How long until the Apex is jettisoned?]

[Not long. I just need to wait until it's not obvious it was my doing.]

[Radio silence. Meet me on the bridge.]

With that, the channel closed, and Starscream stopped walking. He stared down at the floor, wondering if he was really going to try and defend Megatron's authority. After all, all the years of abuse and hardship he suffered at the gladiator's hands could be wiped away if he told Soundwave where to find Megatron. He could use Soundwave to possibly accomplish the task Starscream had never been able to complete. He could be rid of Megatron for the rest of his life.

... Of course, then he'd have to answer to a deranged, delusional Soundwave, which was no better. But maybe he could take command instead. But maybe Soundwave would kill him upon realizing his immunity to the corruption. Or if he  _ wasn't _ fully immune, maybe the corruption would kill him.

Damn it, just stay on point and do your task!

Starscream looked back, finding the docking point empty, and he took a deep breath as he started to walk back toward it, terror gripping his mind. If he did this wrong, he could invoke Soundwave's wrath.

Fortunately, it was rather easy to start the process, at least with the manual override controls. The seeker slammed his hand against a heavy, striped button, and the airlock doors came down, sealing off the hallway. Then a red handle was all it took, pulling it back, turning it back around, and seating it in place again. He grabbed onto the obviously marked handle, trying to pull it from its place in the wall, but the device wouldn't budge. Frantically his thoughts raced; those doors could  _ definitely _ be heard by those vehicons. If they showed up and saw him...

He threw his weight back, trying to activate the switch. Why wasn't it moving!? Panicked, he placed one foot against the wall as leverage, and finally the switch popped out, throwing him back, almost enough for him to lose his balance. With a swift motion, he turned the switch and pushed it back in, then bolted down the hallway as alarm beacons finally sounded. He turned a corner, at least out of visible range from the docking point, and backed against a wall, taking a deep breath. A few moments went by until he heard the sound of voices on the other side of the airlock, and he ran back out, stepping right up to the glass and slamming his hands to it, watching the panicked expressions of the vehicons.

"What did you do!?" he screamed. The poor vehicons looked confused and terrified as they tried to access the computer via the wall panel next to them.

"It's not working!"

Starscream slammed a fist to the glass again and yelled back to them, even as he heard the mechanical arms release the Apex Sirion.

"What happened!?"

One of the vehicons placed his hands on the glass, almost seeming desperate.

"What do we do!?"

Just then, the magnet locks finally shut off, and the ships began to separate. With no air between them, the vehicons' panicked cries went silent. Starscream sent a message to Soundwave, Megatron, and another version to the weapons station of the Voulge.

[Someone jettisoned the Apex. Is anyone even  _ flying _ that thing?]

Soundwave responded a moment later, though as he did so, Starscream watched as wisps of electricity enveloped the Apex Sirion, having come from the disruptor cannon, sending all its occupants falling unconscious to the floor.

[Why the hell are you asking me?]

Starscream started running off toward the bridge, even though he was more terrified now than he was just a moment ago.

[I don't run the Apex! I don't know who's there! No one's even  _ said _ anything to me!]

[You're pathetic.]

[Yes, but where are you?]

Several moments went by, but Starscream never got a response to that message. At least it seemed as though Soundwave didn't suspect him. That was all he really wanted for now.

He kept going, finally reaching the bridge a minute later. Given that he ran inside, it was hardly a surprise that he'd seemed to startle Megatron, given the way the gladiator turned abruptly, even going so far as to raise his fusion cannon slightly. The room was bathed in silver light from the planet below them, and Starscream finally stepped up toward Megatron.

"So... now what?" the seeker asked.

The gladiator's pensive stare showed he didn't know.

The door opened again, and both looked up to watch as Soundwave strode into the room, seeming furious by way of his heavy footsteps and disapproving aura. Starscream backed away, cowering behind Megatron slightly. Soundwave's stare shifted immediately toward him, and the seeker's wings drooped in response. The normally silent decepticon spoke, sounding calm as ever, which was, in turn, even more terrifying.

"You're on his side, aren't you?"

Though it took all his mental energy, Starscream forced his posture to relax, then turn exasperated.

"You can't just burst into a room, looking like you want to  _ kill _ someone, and not come off as ubiquitously terrifying. And, to answer your question..."

He took a few steps toward Soundwave, priming one of his missiles and pointing it at Megatron.

"No."

He glanced back at Soundwave with an expectant stare, until finally he replied.

"Then why are your eyes red?"

Starscream desperately wanted to send Megatron a message explaining his intentions, but to do so with Soundwave watching his every move would be suicide.

"I was going to try and fix the damn computers at least. I just wanted to do so covertly."

He looked back toward the gladiator as he continued.

"Using the Voulge like that was almost clever."

He could see Megatron's scheming mind working behind those crimson eyes, and after a moment, the gladiator pointed his cannon down at Starscream.

"It's one thing to betray me, Starscream, it's another to  _ deceive  _ me."

The seeker smiled, partially to seem devious, and partially because he could tell, somehow, that Megatron knew what he was doing. Megatron understood him perfectly.

"You probably didn't think I could, did you? After all this time, you  _ still _ fall to the same tricks. How pitiful."

Megatron took a step toward the seeker, but almost as soon as he did so, Soundwave stepped in between them, staring up at the gladiator.

"If you so much as touch him-"

"What, you'll kill me?"

"That's not out of the question."

Megatron shook his head slightly, then lowered his gun, letting out something of a disappointed sigh as his voice turned pleading.

"What are you  _ doing _ , Soundwave? You don't want to kill me, nor I you. Why are you threatening me?"

"I'm superseding your authority. You are not fit to command the decepticons."

"And why is that?"

"Because you have exhibited irrational judgement regarding the augmentation of such decepticons as myself. I question your sanity, citing your reflexive fear and suppressive acts. Either surrender your authority to me, or I will take it from you."

Starscream, having backed away slightly, finally muttered.

"Aren't I the better commander? Didn't you tell me that once?"

With a swift motion, Soundwave turned to him, throwing his hand toward him.

"Shut up!"

As though gravity itself had shifted, Starscream was suddenly flung backward, slamming into the wall behind him, where crystals of energon rapidly began to form around him, affixing his body to the wall. He looked down at himself, momentarily panicking, before yelling back to Soundwave.

"What the hell was that for!?"

"Stay out of this. This is between me and Megatron."

Starscream and Megatron briefly exchanged a concerned stare, the seeker desperately wanting to help, and the gladiator silently thanking him for what he'd already done. But Megatron's gaze turned back to Soundwave once the other decepticon started speaking again.

"Relinquish your command."

"No."

"Well then..."

Soundwave was very deliberate as he took one step toward Megatron, his head held high, then raised his right arm out as though presenting his hand, the back of which faced Megatron. He took another deliberate step forward, and held this posture.

 

Starscream and Megatron met each other's gaze for a moment again. That was the formal gesture all Kaon gladiators did before every match. Megatron let out a quiet sigh, then returned the gesture. One step forward, right arm out, the back of his hand facing forward. With his second step forward, his arm touched Soundwave's, and they stared at each other for only a moment before both lowered their hands, and took three slow steps backward. Starscream tried to wriggle his way out of his crystal restraints, but only for a moment, considering the entire effort was futile. Instead he relaxed, hanging motionless as he watched the two gladiators.

 

Megatron activated the switchblade on his cannon, though he seemed more dejected than anything else.

"Soundwave, please..."

Soundwave had no weapons, but he did deploy his cables, which, on second thought, were a formidable weapon on their own.

"I gave you a choice."

"You're deluded, that corruption is-"

Soundwave threw his hand forward, and Megatron was, like Starscream, thrown back into the wall behind him. The blue figure started to stride forward, then run toward the other gladiator as he yelled.

"It's  _ not _ corruption! It's a  _ gift _ ! And your arrogant dismissal of it is  _ insulting! _ "

Soundwave swung toward Megatron just as he got up, blocking the strike with his blade. The gladiator looked up toward Soundwave, and even from the other side of the room, Starscream could see the sudden fury that raged within his scarlet eyes. Megatron reached forward with his other hand, either trying to strike Soundwave or to grab his cables. But they, in turn, moved out of the way, reaching around toward Megatron, at least until he grabbed Soundwave's outstretched arm and twisted it, leveraging him to the floor. Megatron lowered his arm, placing his blade on the side of Soundwave's neck.

"Check. One."

Soundwave reached up with one of his cables, grabbing the back of Megatron's neck and pulling him back some distance. Though the gladiator stumbled, he didn't lose his balance, and took a defensive posture as Soundwave got to his feet.

 

There were several main rules in Kaon's gladiatorial arena, and even Starscream knew most of them. No gunfire between gladiators of equal status, no electrical disruption, all checks must be verbalized. The second one worked in Megatron's favor, given that Soundwave could easily knock him unconscious with that electrical surge thing he did, but he could just as easily do the same to Soundwave with the sheer force of his fusion cannon.

 

Megatron ran toward Soundwave this time, slashing with his blade, only to slice through air as the blue figure stepped out of the way, just barely escaping the range of his sword. Soundwave seemed to shift his weight to one side even  _ before _ Megatron reached to strike him with his other hand, rotating to shield himself with his arm, as though expecting the gladiator's next sword strike well in advance.

It had only been in one conversation, but Starscream could swear he remembered Megatron saying something about Soundwave being impossibly proactive, as though he could sense people's attacks before they made them, like he could somehow read people's minds.

As Starscream watched the two fight, it seemed more and more plausible. Even before Megatron could move his hands, Soundwave already shifted his weight, either flying well out of the way of any attack, or blocking it at opportune times.

But Megatron was no less swift. He moved his weight smoothly, always keeping a stable defensive stance, preventing any counterstrike with his ceaseless attacks.

Starscream had only ever fought for his life, but this fighting was like art. They moved like dancers, advancing and retreating in sync as they fought, strike after strike, blow after blow. Finally, Megatron swung with his blade, but stopped his arm and pulled back just as Soundwave moved out of the way, then lunged forward again to stab him. Soundwave turned, having been caught slightly off guard, and Megatron swung at him with his other hand, punching him in the chest, finally knocking him off balance and throwing him to the floor. Megatron placed a foot on Soundwave's chest, holding his blade to his neck again.

"Two."

A quiet sound seemed to catch the gladiator's attention, and he soon started to back off upon realizing the sound to be that of Soundwave's laughter. He stepped away, letting the blue figure get to his feet, until finally Soundwave spoke.

"Now I remember why I ever fell in love with you."

Megatron stared at him, seeming horribly disturbed, and remaining silent as Soundwave continued, sounding genuinely delighted.

"It's been so long, hasn't it?"

"Since we've fought?"

"Yes... But you're just as... difficult. Just as persistent. Just as fast."

"Soundwave," Starscream yelled out suddenly, "this is unnecessary. Just electrocute him and be done with it."

"You wouldn't understand the-"

He cried out as Megatron slashed with his blade, cutting a gash into Soundwave's side. Another slash barely missed his face, and soon the two were locked in another exchange, even as blood started to drip to the floor. Megatron seemed more determined this time, more violent, but one strike left him dangerously unbalanced, leaving Soundwave open to grabbing him with one cable and slamming him into the floor. The end of that cable remained latched onto the gladiator's chest as the blue figure stepped toward him.

"One."

Megatron swung, slicing straight through the appendage. Soundwave cried out again, this time seeming more pained than startled, as the bleeding remnants of the cable retracted into his torso.

 

It was generally frowned upon in the gladiatorial arena to make such offensive attacks after a check, especially ones like dismemberment.

 

"Fine!" Soundwave screamed, holding his hand forward again. But rather than throwing Megatron back as he did before, the Resonance Blaster folded out from his arm, and he soon grabbed onto the gladiator's face as he activated it, considering there was no air in the room. Starscream again tried to break out of his restraints, but could only watch, motionless, as Megatron desperately grabbed at Soundwave's arm, trying to at least break contact.

 

"Soundwave!" Starscream yelled. "Don't kill him!"

Considering the abnormality of that statement coming from Starscream, Soundwave actually stopped, letting go of Megatron and turning to face him. The gladiator already had cracks along much of his armor. Soundwave did  _ not  _ sound happy as he replied to the seeker finally.

" _ What _ did you say?"

Starscream actually trembled in fear at the tone of his voice.

"He's... more useful to us alive."

"Are you... actually advocating for Megatron now?"

It took a moment for Starscream to gather his thoughts, but finally he responded.

"You know what? Yes. I realize that seems out of character. But he doesn't deserve to die for fighting against this augmentation. Just force it on him. Then you won't have to... settle your disputes with violence like a primitive. Oh, and... get me out of this. I don't have your powers yet."

Soundwave looked down at Megatron, who still laid on the floor, seemingly in pain, then back up at Starscream. Finally he held his hand out, and the crystals that had entrapped the seeker dissipated, letting him drop to the floor. He stretched his arms as he walked toward Soundwave, stepping beside Megatron and staring down at him for a moment.

"You've done enough to him already. I mean, I don't like him, but you're  _ violent. _ "

"Why do you suddenly want to spare him?"

"I want  _ you _ to spare him. I'll kill him myself, maybe, but I don't think you could live with yourself."

Starscream began to wander around Megatron as he continued.

"There's some room for violence in negotiations but this  _ is _ still a negotiation, isn't it? And really, all we need is for him to become augmented. It doesn't really matter if he wants it or not. Then we'll all at least be on the same page."

The seeker finally wandered behind Soundwave, and  _ very _ carefully locked his fingers into place. Soundwave finally nodded slowly, and his second cable emerged from his torso, latching onto Megatron again.

"This is for the best."

But before he could do anything, Soundwave let out another cry of pain, and looked down at himself to find Starscream's blade fingers jutting through him. The seeker ripped his hand back, eliciting another, though quieter, pained moan from Soundwave as he stumbled back slightly. He turned to look at the seeker, emanating more sadness than rage.

"Even with augmentation... y-... you still..."

"I was never augmented, dear. This is for the best."

Soundwave fell to his knees, remaining there for a brief moment before finally collapsing to the floor.

Starscream glanced for a moment at his blood-covered hand, then stepped over beside Megatron, kneeling down next to him. The gladiator finally sat upright, looking over toward Soundwave as he spoke.

"This wasn't how I wanted this to end."

Starscream glanced back at the blue form momentarily, finding energon seeping out and pooling underneath him.

"I  _ really  _ don't want to kill him..."

Megatron started to get to his feet, although he was slow and deliberate in his movements. Starscream stood up once he did, and the gladiator moved to pick up Soundwave's body, carrying him in his arms.

"He'll be fine," he said, "but we'll need to restrain him once he's conscious until we can cure him."

Megatron started to walk off, and Starscream soon followed, remaining silent until the gladiator spoke again a short while later.

"That was impressive, though."

"What?"

"I didn't expect you to deceive Soundwave for that long."

"So..."

"... I guess you did make me proud."

It sounded begrudged, like a forced admission, but it was still the very thing Starscream had been waiting to hear for years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This thing's probably going to end up being like 120,000 words before I finally decide it's done. And I never even thought I'd make it to this section. I've had the tendency to start writing large stories and then either fizzle out or give up, so I've literally never written a story this huge. But this has all turned out well, especially with the comments.  
> It's just... this is kind of a milestone for me, and it's really weird.
> 
> Oh but don't worry, Soundwave is still alive, and everything will probably start making more sense in the next chapter.
> 
> (Also I meant to have the chapter directly following Enlightenment be called Resistance, but I derped. Yeah I play Ingress. And I'm green.)


	22. Illumination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I didn't use music for this really, but the music for the Luminoth Temple or Sanctuary Fortress from Metroid Echoes could both work.

He was awake.

... That was a strange realization. For a moment he merely relaxed in the state of emptiness he found himself in. Who was he?

Shockwave. Right.

He could start to hear things around him, the sounds of voices, but he didn't bother listening yet. How long had he been asleep?

Rather, on second thought, the question became why he had been asleep in the first place. His memories were faint, his mind could barely focus on any one thought, but slowly things began to return to him.

He'd been on the ship. The ship had been attacked. He remembered a fire, and then... escaping. Falling down to the surface.

Wait a second...

Shockwave finally looked around, although his mind couldn't process anything he saw. It was just... lights, and the color blue. How was he even still alive? The decepticons had to have found him. That thought was comforting, at least. He started to retreat back into his thoughts, and his consciousness started to fall back into the tranquility of sleep, until another sound caught his attention. It was one of the voices he heard before, but now he realized that he didn't recognize it.

He looked around again, finally starting to grasp what he saw. He was lying on what felt like a slab of metal, or stone, surrounded by faint blue transparent walls. And as he looked to his left, he saw a form standing before him, tall enough to look down on him, were it not separated by the glass. It had thin arms and legs, covered in a beige exoskeleton, and long fingers. There were accents of red across some of its body, some even seeming to glow. It looked toward Shockwave with large red eyes, somehow seeming calming as it blinked slowly. Feathery antennae perked upright, and finally, it spoke.

"Well... hello."

Shockwave was still slightly delirious, and as such, his response came out as little more than a tired moan, but after a moment he realized something.

This was clearly an alien species... how was it speaking a language he knew? He stared at the form, now noticing what looked like wings trailing behind its back, adorned with red markings that matched those on its arms and shoulders. Finally the scientist managed to focus his attention enough to speak.

"How do you... know the humans' language?"

The person standing before him moved his head back slightly, as though curious.

"Humans?" he said. "It's the standard galactic language."

"Standard..." Shockwave mumbled, trying to maintain his focus.

The alien before him moved one hand out, slowly, to place across his chest as he bowed.

"I am U-Mos, Sentinel of the Luminoth."

He held his hands behind him, and it took Shockwave a moment to notice that as he did this, he lifted entirely off the ground just slightly, his feet dangling below him as he hovered. He continued after a moment.

"Considering you're part of a species we've never seen before, I find it safe to presume that you, in turn, know nothing of us. Please be assured that we're not holding you in captivity here. You're just in a phazon containment unit. This whole thing was a... misunderstanding, on several levels."

Shockwave's mind started racing. There was intelligent life on this planet and they had no idea? Were they the ones that attacked the Erebus? How was he even still alive, given the injuries he'd sustained? Where were the other decepticons?

In his frenzy, he only managed to ask one question.

"Are there others?"

"Others of you?" U-Mos asked. "No, yours was the only craft to fall to our planet. But we were tracking your ship when it got attacked."

"Were you-"

The figure held up a hand, silencing Shockwave.

"Peace, foreigner. I know you burn with questions, as do I. But know that we did not attack your ship. We, at present, have no spacecraft. The ones who did attack you, however, are known by most as the Space Pirates. They are enemies of ours as they no doubt are to you, too. Your ship is still up there. Whether anyone is alive, we cannot answer."

"How... did you manage to repair my wounds?"

"For the most part, we didn't. We just infused you with phazon, and it seemed to work."

"... Phazon?"

U-Mos pointed with one thin finger toward a canister filled with energon, and Shockwave soon looked back at him.

"... Why? Why did you bother to save me?"

The luminoth glanced away, seeming to think for a moment before speaking.

"That is where the misunderstanding originates. You see, we have been stuck at war for years, and we nearly lost. Our defenses have, as such, been eroded away, and we've become vulnerable to Space Pirate attack. When their ships finally came to Aether... we assumed it was a Galactic Federation vessel they fought; one of our allies. So, when your craft landed here, we rushed to find it, only to discover that you weren't part of the Federation at all. Nonetheless, we will help all who find themselves in need, and so we brought you here, to our Sanctuary Fortress."

Shockwave stared at the luminoth, letting this process, when U-Mos spoke again.

"Your ship did suffer another Pirate attack since you crashed here. As I said, we've been monitoring it closely, but we have no way of rendering aid."

Shockwave almost immediately started trying to contact the Erebus, only to find that he couldn't even locate it, as though the signal was blocked from even reaching him.

"Do you have a signal jammer?" he asked.

"No, Aether's atmosphere is fraught with electrical storms. It makes outward communication... troublesome. But we do have a relay you could use to reach your ship."

Another voice spoke out, and Shockwave looked over toward the source. Several other luminoth worked on computers, the screens of which were covered in all manner of strange, foreign characters.

"No, it's still down," one of them said.

U-Mos briefly looked back at the one who had spoken, then back toward Shockwave.

"Nevermind," he said. "We've struggled to repair that dish for... some time now. So it seems we'll have time to catch up on the happenings of the galaxy. I forgot to ask, what is your name?"

"Shockwave."

"Interesting."

The Sentinel turned toward the others in the room, glancing toward one of the computer screens before speaking.

"He's not outwardly radioactive, is he?"

Two of the other luminoth glanced toward him, but only one turned to answer.

"No, not anymore."

"So it's safe to open the containment unit?"

"I... have no evidence that it's not."

"Would you mind opening it, then?"

The other luminoth, adorned with more green markings than red, hesitated before turning back to the computer, and typing something in. A few moments later, the walls around Shockwave began to fade away, slowly enough to where he reached out to touch one just to see if had even been physical at all. As it faded, the resistance it gave to his hand faded as well, and soon he found himself lying awkwardly in the corner of the room. He started to try and sit upright, only to be met with a wave of lightheadedness, prompting him to lie down again. As he looked, he found everyone in the room staring at him, all six of them. U-Mos floated slightly toward him, hesitantly holding out a hand, but stopping, and pulling it back.

"Are you alright?"

With a deep breath, Shockwave lifted himself up again, finally sitting up but immediately resting his weight against the wall behind him. He stared at the luminoth before him, finding them at about the same eye level. He looked away slightly, just to break the pressure of the six pairs of eyes staring at him, and finally responded.

"The state I was in... it takes some time to fully recover from it. But I am otherwise fine."

"Good... Then I welcome you to Aether, Shockwave."

He gestured back toward the other luminoth, some of whom awkwardly waved at Shockwave in response.

"These are my scientists. Not all of them, of course, but they have been looking after you since we found you. Our engineers will be working on the satellite dish necessary to contact your ship, but until that's complete, you are free to roam our Sanctuary Fortress... provided you can fit in the rooms, of course."

"Thank... you..."

"Something troubles you?"

Shockwave looked around the room, suddenly noticing the sheer amount of machinery and circuitry embedded into the room itself. The walls glowed with lit magnet rails, and even the floor was either decorated, or made up of what looked like circuits. He looked back toward U-Mos.

"Not that I harbor any ill intentions, but I find it... illogical how readily you release me from containment and open your doors to me."

U-Mos lifted his head, looking slightly upward, and for a moment, Shockwave could have sworn he felt an aura radiating from the Sentinel. Granted, it was confusing, giving off a sense of heat, or radiance, but the rest of the Sentinel's posture seemed pleased. His shoulders relaxed, he lifted just slightly higher off of the ground, and his antennae, rather than drifting back with his usual motions, remained upright as he spoke.

"Ahh... yes... Well, given the fact that our planet was only just recently saved by a person with a gun for one arm... I must admit that I am somewhat biased in your favour."

"That is an... odd bias."

"Do all of your kind have arm cannons?"

"No, I... lost my hand."

"I see."

The room went silent, and Shockwave started to look around again, watching as a blue hexagonal door opened, and a gray robotic form walked in on four legs. What appeared to be a head swiveled to face him, remaining locked on him even as the rest of the form rotated around in its odd gait. Three of the luminoth had gone back to their previous tasks, but the other two scientists watched the robotic form, and U-Mos, in turn, noticed Shockwave staring at it.

"This is one of our Quad sentries." the Sentinel said. "We only just recently got them working properly again."

Shockwave didn't break his stare from the form, watching as it began scanning walls with a red beam of light.

"What do they do?"

"Well... they were primarily for defense. We've been altering their programming for more maintenance-related tasks."

"May I study one?"

U-Mos looked back toward Shockwave, his antennae perking upright again.

"Are you a researcher?" he asked, his voice laden with joyous curiosity.

"By nature."

The Sentinel turned back toward the others in the room, glancing at one in particular.

"A-Scl, can you deactivate this one?"

The luminoth to whom he'd been speaking turned around abruptly, as though startled, glancing at him, then Shockwave.

"What?"

"Can you deactivate this Quad?"

"Oh, yes, sorry."

She stepped over to the robot, which looked up at her, scanning her briefly. She placed her hand on its head, and a second later, the metallic form slumped to the floor. The colored decorations across her body were all blue, the fur on her chest more white than the others' sand colors.

U-Mos held his hands out toward the metal form, and soon it lifted off the ground, just as he did, though it was guided by his hands back toward Shockwave, all without ever contacting another surface. The scientist almost scrambled back upon seeing this, tensing up in the shock of watching physics be broken. U-Mos tilted his head in response.

"What?" the Sentinel asked.

Shockwave froze for a moment, trying to think of what to say, all while staring at the Sentinel's feet as they hovered off of the ground.

"How did you..."

"Ah, yes. We conduct research from the ground up, trying to discover the mysteries of the world by looking at the part to understand the whole. But we also conduct research from the sky downward, to accept the whole even though we cannot see its parts."

"That... explains nothing."

"I  _ have _ no explanation. Our powers of telekinesis can be harnessed, and practiced, but we cannot yet explain it. Does this make it magic? That is not for me to answer."

"I do not accept magic as an answer. To resign to the explanation of magic is to give up on the process of science."

U-Mos closed his eyes for a moment, and again Shockwave felt the hint of an aura from him, seeming radiant as before, as was the luminoth himself.

"A philosopher, are you?"

Shockwave shifted his posture, sitting forward slightly, staring intently at the Sentinel as he spoke.

"Science itself demands a type of philosophy, but I work within the bounds of logic."

"So yesterday you would have assumed telekinesis to be impossible?"

"I cannot logically  _ assume _ anything to be impossible. But I would doubt its existence, yes."

"Then you could never discover the possibility unless you were forced to look at it."

"... Yes?"

"What other impossible things are possible that you just haven't discovered yet? How would you know without searching for yourself?"

"It would be impractical to conduct such a search. If everything we know is continually called into question, then how can we know anything for certain?"

"Do you claim to know things for certain?"

"Not literally, but there is a practical certainty necessary to function. It would be illogical to jump off of a building hoping the laws of physics can be suspended by powers of telekinesis that may or may not exist."

"But now you know they do."

The room went silent again, and U-Mos closed his eyes, turning his face upward to catch the beams of sunlight that streamed in through a window on the wall above Shockwave. These people were bizarre, or at least U-Mos was, but there was simultaneously something charming about them, something calming. The scientist watched the machinery in the room churn; as decorated gears spun around the whole of a nearby hallway, as arms occasionally clamped down across one of the magnet rails, as wall-mounted screens scrolled foreign text. He hardly noticed as U-Mos started to back away, at least until he spoke.

"I'm glad to have met you, Shockwave. But I have other duties to attend to. Feel free to ask any of us if you need anything."

Shockwave could only manage a silent nod in response as the Sentinel floated out of the room.

His attention soon turned to the robotic form that lay before him. He reached over to grab it, and pull the construct onto his lap, for a while just staring at the detail worked into every portion of it. All of its many joints were streamlined and readily flexible, its metal panels were almost decorated with interesting, subtle patterns of embedded wiring. It looked more like a faithful replication of cybertronian biology than seemed possible. But then again, apparently so was telekinesis.

Shockwave looked up suddenly, noticing something. He set the robot to one side, and merely sat there for a moment, focusing on what it was he felt. Like a gentle prodding at his mind, something asked for his attention. He held his hand to the still tender wound on his chest, and he suddenly realized what it was.

It was the spark of his unborn child.

It was still alive!? How was that even  _ possible? _ He barely understood how he himself hadn't bled out and died, but for  _ it  _ to still be alive... And now it had an aura that prodded at his, creating a subtle, but noticeable interference every few moments.

He  _ had  _ to know how it remained alive. He began looking through diagnostic logs kept by the device in his arm cannon, seeing if it had recorded anything about his condition while he was in stasis. And sure enough, it had.

He'd seemed to stabilize upon first entering stasis, but it didn't appear as though his bleeding had slowed much. Various organs had started shutting down due to energon loss, which was normal, but...

About two hours after entering stasis, his spark output had dropped to zero. But that was impossible, because he was still alive. Which meant... something else had to have been powering his spark. Maybe that was when the luminoth found him.

As he kept scrolling through data, however, he finally froze.

When the output of his spark had dropped, the output of his child's spark had  _ increased _ . In fact, it had increased by a significant amount, enough to sustain his own.

Shockwave held a hand to his head, trying to process everything. Lightheadedness quickly started to overtake him, and he laid back down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.

Not only was his child still alive, it had literally saved his life. As much as he wished he could make it disappear, he now owed his very life to the parasite inside him.

He had no choice anymore but to keep it.

It was the only logical choice now. In return for granting him his life... he had to grant it its own. Even as much as he wished he'd killed it months ago, this path was set now. Shockwave was going to have a child he didn't even want.

For some time he merely stared up at the ceiling, trying to process the situation he'd found himself in. He was lying in some research center belonging to an alien race capable of telekinesis, recovering from stasis after being attacked by space pirates, only alive because of the fact that he was carrying. How had all of this even happened in the first place? Why had they been attacked at all?

"Are you alright?"

Shockwave turned his head, looking up at the luminoth who'd stepped toward him, the one who'd deactivated the robot. The scientist looked back up at the ceiling for a moment, then moved to sit at least mostly upright, resting against a small corner in the wall.

"I'm... thinking."

The luminoth moved to his right and sat down on the floor next to him, her eyes scanning him, her antennae almost folded back, seemingly out of apprehension.

"Where are you from? I mean... what planet?"

"Cybertron. Orbiting the binary star system the humans called Alpha Centauri. 1.47 times the mass of this planet. Orbited by two moons. Atmosphere lacking in oxygen."

He glanced at the luminoth, finding her staring silently at him, and he spoke again, although he averted his gaze somewhat.

"Though, we left our world, hoping to reach a rogue planet instead."

"Did something happen to it?" the luminoth asked, her posture almost conveying more curiosity than the tone of her voice.

"It died long ago, lost to the ravages of war, but our faction finally decided to take our leave, considering we have nothing more to lose."

"Oh..."

The luminoth shifted her weight slightly, looking away as she started to speak again.

"We finally just escaped from our own war. But those stories are... unhappy, of course. What technology do you have?"

Inside, Shockwave almost smiled.

"Quantum spatial tunneling, range up to about seven lightyears."

"Wormholes? We have... dimensional-shift drives."

"I'd only entertained the idea of dimensional travel in thought experiments."

"How do you power your ships?"

"Fission reactions."

"That must be hard to fix if something goes wrong."

"I don't work in nuclear physics."

"What do you do?"

"My preference is biology."

The luminoth seemed to smile, even without a discernible mouth.

"So... you could tell me about your species in more detail than others would."

"I could."

Their conversation rolled onward, Shockwave describing the basic tenets of cybertronian biology, and the luminoth describing the tenets of life on Aether, both seeming equally fascinating to the other person. Even as other luminoth came and went, Shockwave sat with her, talking about all manner of scientific subjects, even as the light from outside began to wane. Gradually, he turned the subject back to the deactivated robot, and the luminoth began to deconstruct it. He'd forgotten her name, but he watched her hands as she worked, taking panels off, disconnecting wiring, sliding replaceable components out of their perfectly created slots. Soundwave would love to watch this...

... Soundwave.

In a moment, his mind turned back to the silent decepticon. Was he still alive? Was he okay? If he was, he'd have no way of knowing that Shockwave was still alive. Except, of course, for that... regrettably cryptic message he'd sent. He'd been distraught and had limited time to send something, of course, but of all of the potentially useful things he could have said, he instead went with nothing more than "I love you." Technically that wasn't untrue, but it was meaningless. Soundwave certainly wouldn't believe him, and even Shockwave himself found it hard to accept. At the time, however, it had definitely been true.

"Shockwave?"

The scientist looked down at the luminoth, who stared up at him. Her antennae were folded back, seeming nervous, and she remained fairly motionless. Shockwave finally looked away as he spoke.

"I was thinking."

They sat in silence for a moment, and the scientist shifted his weight slightly.

"And I... forgot your name," he muttered.

"Don't worry," the luminoth replied, "everyone has trouble remembering our names. It's A-Scl."

Shockwave gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, then looked away again. A-Scl moved forward slightly, suddenly more interested in him than in the half-deconstructed robot.

"What are you thinking about?"

"... A variety of things."

The silence in the air turned awkward, but as much as Shockwave would have just walked away, he was in an unfamiliar place, and thus had nowhere to retreat. Fortunately, A-Scl seemed to notice this, and finally stood up, meeting his gaze.

"Okay... I'll um... I'll just... let you be."

"It's not you... you're fine."

"I know. I-I mean..."

A-Scl started fidgeting with her hands as she struggled to figure out what to say. She was just as awkward as Shockwave in this scenario.

"Sorry, I'll just..."

She started to back away.

"Maybe if you want, tomorrow you can help me reprogram all these things."

Shockwave watched her move, watching her feet.

"Can you float?" he asked.

A-Scl stopped, holding her hands behind her.

"No, I never got the hang of the whole telekinesis thing. It's... you either have it or you don't, and I... don't."

"What percentage of the luminoth population have this ability?"

"About forty."

Shockwave had no response, and A-Scl hesitantly started to back away again.

"We'll try to get that communications relay up, but... it'll probably take a while."

With only a silent acknowledgement from Shockwave, she finally left the room, and the scientist looked back at his gun arm, retracting a panel to glance at various pieces of data it had recorded. There had to be a way for him to contact the Erebus soon... He had to make sure Soundwave was okay. Despite his outward nature of being silent and unshakeable, Soundwave also seemed very... fragile, in some respects. He was quick to blame himself for things that were not his fault, and he internalized others' suffering rather easily. Given that he had no way to know that Shockwave was okay, he probably felt responsible for all this, which was a torment he by no means deserved.

So, it had to fall to the scientist to protect Soundwave from himself, wherever he was.

Damn him. He was the only reason Shockwave had started feeling emotion again, and he hated it.

But at the same time, he suddenly felt differently toward Soundwave than he did anyone else. It was like... he'd made some promise somewhere in his spark to take care of him. Soundwave had started to  _ need  _ him, and he'd been all too happy to oblige. All the while, he found himself growing more and more attached to Soundwave in turn.

He started to notice the interference in his spark again, and Shockwave buried his face in his hand. What had he become?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now the Metroid half of this story just walks up and slaps you in the face.  
> I dunno, I'm... not terribly happy with this chapter, but this was how it turned out, so I can't really change it. I've already made a fairly big edit to this, too.  
> I think it has to do with the fact that everything here is unfamiliar, and U-Mos in particular is one character I've never had the chance to really develop before now.
> 
> For Metroid people: For some reason I'm envisioning this in the room with the Caretaker class drone; that stationary thing you fight on the spiderball track that makes all the weird noises. But of course, I think that actual room is a bit too small. Then again, the luminoth are all at least twice Samus's height, so how THEY get around in Sanctuary Fortress, I've no clue. I also am thinking the communications relay they mention is the one in Temple Grounds that never works, even though that's a GF thing.
> 
> For non-Metroid people: First off, play all three games in the Metroid Prime trilogy.  
> Second, here's U-Mos - http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/U-Mos  
> Third, here's a picture of Sanctuary Fortress - https://img.fireden.net/v/image/1470/89/1470892806939.jpg  
> (How the hell do the luminoth even use that room!?)
> 
> I do have some ideas for the next chapter, so hopefully it'll be better. This one was just... tough for multiple reasons.


	23. Quadraxis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, unoriginal name, so what.
> 
> Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdoyZLrhAH0 (Yeah, unoriginal song, so what.)  
> Music from trying to activate Quadraxis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lesncaOmAiQ (IT'S NATURALLY FITTING OKAY? Don't give me that look...)

In the silence, Shockwave had worked on repairing the machine A-Scl had left dismantled, his mind wandering during the entire time he did so. The quad was obviously much smaller than he was used to working with, but it only served to narrow his focus, to clear his mind. There were still a great many questions he had, chief among them being how he was going to contact the decepticons. He'd set that beacon on his escape pod to run on loop, but still no one had managed to find him. Of course, if they did get the beacon, they'd search for the ship, not for him, but if someone was on the surface looking for him, there was no reason they wouldn't be able to contact him.

While it flew by in merely a moment for Shockwave, it was actually three hours before his attention was ripped away from him as the door opened, and U-Mos floated through. The Sentinel looked around the room for a moment before looking toward the scientist.

"Where is everyone?" he asked. Shockwave hesitated for a moment, considering he didn't know how to answer that, and U-Mos spoke again.

"Right. I shouldn't expect you to know."

The Sentinel's eyes turned toward the now recognizable form of a quad robot held in Shockwave's arms, and he tilted his head.

"Are you studying it?"

The scientist looked down at the machine he held.

"A-Scl took it apart. I'm reassembling it."

U-Mos was silent for a few moments, his eyes seeming pensive as he stared at Shockwave. Finally he spoke again, his soft voice strangely calming.

"You... might be able to help us with something. Come with me."

The Sentinel floated back toward the door, and Shockwave hesitated before finally lifting his weight up off the floor, not realizing he hadn't attempted to stand yet until being met with a considerable amount of pain and dropping to one knee, clutching the wound on his chest.

"Are you alright?" U-Mos said. "It's not urgent, you don't need to-"

Shockwave finally climbed to his feet, bracing himself against the wall beside him. The doctor in him would never have let a patient of his start walking around this soon under the same conditions, but the researcher in him didn't care.

"Resilient, are you?" the Sentinel muttered. He floated over and reached his hand into a device, looking like nothing more than a wire frame box, when blue holograms appeared around his hand, some containing bits of writing Shockwave had seen from the screens. U-Mos tilted his fingers, manipulating the images until finally he removed his hand, and parts of the wall started to retract, granting a larger space for Shockwave to be able to walk into the next room. Therein were only a couple luminoth, hardly seeming to do much.

U-Mos led him through several rooms, containing only four luminoth between all of them, before stopping momentarily, and floating up somewhat, seemingly to try and match Shockwave's height.

"Please excuse the mess," he said. He opened the last door, and Shockwave stood frozen for a moment at what he found on the other side.

This room was open to the sky, colored a calm, overcast grey. The area looked like a large pit, surrounded on all sides by massive, decorated walls. Several platforms of varying levels stood in the room, surrounding a colossal robotic form slumped in the center. At least five luminoth stood working on it, at least until Shockwave stepped down into the room, followed by U-Mos. The Sentinel flew up, enough to match the scientist's eye level as he spoke, gesturing to the metallic form behind him.

"This is Quadraxis, our prime defense mechanoid. It was intended to be a sort of alpha to the regular Quad robots, but it was... corrupted, and then heavily damaged. Considering we now fear Pirate attack, we've been frantically trying to repair it. I know you know nothing of our technology, but if you can so easily take to reassembling a Quad, surely you can do the same for Quadraxis."

Shockwave finally broke his stare from the giant robot to glance over at U-Mos.

"You want me to repair your military defense drone?"

"Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated."

"Why do you trust me so much? I've told you nothing of my motives. You have no logical reason to trust me."

"Trust, by its very nature, is a suspension of logic. Is this not true?"

Shockwave turned his gaze back to Quadraxis as he thought for a moment.

"I suppose that is true."

"Should I have a reason not to trust you?"

The scientist looked back at U-Mos, suddenly finding his eyes piercing, like they tried to stare into his spark. Shockwave looked away as he spoke.

"Not inherently, but my motives do not necessarily align with yours. My primary objective is to return to my ship, but I cannot do that until I can manage to contact them."

U-Mos's voice turned somewhat darker as he spoke, sounding ominous in some way.

"I think our objectives are closer together than you might realize. We seek to defend ourselves from Pirate attack just as you do. They're planning something, and I fear the worst."

Shockwave looked back at him as he continued.

"It was a meteor, a Leviathan, that split our planet in two last time, and I believe they intend to do the same again."

U-Mos looked away, staring up at the sky as he spoke.

"That is why we need to repair Quadraxis. We may not be able to stop a Leviathan if it comes, but we might survive if we can restore our stronghold to its full capabilities."

The Sentinel went silent, and Shockwave finally responded.

"What is a Leviathan?"

U-Mos turned to Shockwave, holding out one hand, from which a hologram suddenly appeared of an odd structure, looking like a rock with tentacles trailing it.

"Leviathans are meteors made primarily from phazon, seeds from which its influence spreads. If they make landfall, they can spread phazon and corrupt an entire planet."

With his other hand, U-Mos produced another hologram of a swirling blue planet. He lowered his first hand as he stared at this second hologram.

"They come from Phaaze, the source of all phazon. Somehow, the planet is composed almost entirely of the poison."

Shockwave stared at the image for a moment, then looked back at U-Mos.

"That's... the planet we're trying to reach."

"Phaaze?"

"We call it Sanctum, but I believe them to be the same planet."

The Sentinel dispelled his hologram as he floated away slightly, staring at Shockwave with narrowed eyes.

"And why do you seek this place?"

"Energon- Phazon, as you call it, is our lifeblood. We struggled to find caches of it on Earth. A planet composed entirely of energon could sustain us forever."

U-Mos floated back, pointing his hands toward Shockwave suddenly, and brief sparkles of light began to surround his hands. The luminoth that had been working on Quadraxis stopped to stare at him, and the scientist took a step back as U-Mos spoke.

"Do you follow the Dark Hunter?"

Shockwave backed slowly into the wall behind him, not raising his gun but holding his left arm ready to fire if he needed to.

"I... do not know who that is."

"Dark Samus?"

"I've... never heard of that."

Hesitantly, U-Mos lowered his hands, and Shockwave started to relax, as did the others watching them. The Sentinel nonetheless kept his gaze locked on the scientist, and finally he spoke, his voice having turned calm again.

"I do not know what it is about you, Shockwave, but I'm inclined to trust you. After all, if you followed Dark Samus, you would never have been attacked by Pirates, now, would you?"

The air went silent again, and U-Mos started to float just slightly toward Shockwave again, holding his hands behind him.

"But you do live off of phazon, and that is troublesome."

"Why is that?"

"Because this galaxy is in turmoil regarding phazon. Dark Samus has smashed Leviathans into several worlds now, including ours, and without fail, the worlds fall to the corruption, as do the beings that live there. The purity of nature is twisted and mutated, docile creatures become savage beasts, sentient beings like Space Pirates become mindless followers of the one they call the Dark Hunter. And she grows stronger with every person who falls to her poison."

"Then why was Earth not affected by the energon we stored there for centuries?"

U-Mos's eyes widened slightly, and his posture straightened.

"This is all another misunderstanding, isn't it? You only know of raw phazon..."

"I... don't understand."

"The 'energon' you know is not alive, is it?"

Shockwave went silent for a moment. How  _ could _ energon be alive?

"Of course not."

"Ah..."

The air went quiet, and the scientist stared at U-Mos, waiting for him to continue. But the Sentinel seemed lost in thought, and so Shockwave spoke in his stead.

"Were you going to elaborate?"

U-Mos glanced back at Shockwave abruptly, as though having been startled, or distracted by him.

"The phazon that plagues our galaxy is a fungus that lives off of the substance you call energon. It can infect almost anything; even machines fall to its will. When it corrupts a person... it controls them. They believe themselves autonomous, but they start to act out the Dark Hunter's wishes, whether they realize it or not. The planet you seek... Phaaze... is her realm. It's composed entirely of this living poison. I have no doubt that if you were to come in contact with this phazon, it would take you too. You  _ cannot _ reach that planet. It would all but consume you, if Dark Samus did not first kill you herself."

"Not to further arouse suspicion, but I would like to study this substance, if I may."

"We might not have any recent data on it, and for our own safety, we don't keep any live phazon around us. If you wanted to find any, you'd have to travel all the way to the Pirate base in Agon, and even then, I would urge you not to."

"Is there a method for purging the fungus, then?"

"There  _ is _ antiphazon, but only the Galactic Federation knows how to create it."

Shockwave stared down at the floor for a moment, lost in thought, but looked up when U-Mos spoke again.

"But if you can help us repair Quadraxis, I will gladly impart all knowledge we have of phazon."

"A trade is a much more logical approach than the baseless trust you held before."

"I am concerned for you. If raw phazon is your lifeblood, then you are a prime target for Dark Samus's corruption, and vulnerable to the Space Pirates. They worship her as a god. They take her corruption willingly, and work it into everything they do. They fight with phazon, they live by phazon, they die by phazon."

"Why do they want to attack you?"

"While we know their motives, we cannot understand them. They seek conquest, just as Dark Samus does, by any means. For what reason, I will never know. But I feel they will be here soon, with another Leviathan."

Shockwave looked away again, piecing everything together. So Sanctum was actually composed of some type of infected energon which could control people's minds, and the planet was sending out meteors full of infected energon to corrupt other worlds. The Erebus had been attacked by Space Pirates, serving the... master of the corruption, or whatever Dark Samus was supposed to be. In reality, it was not much different from Unicron holding control over any beings who consumed enough dark energon.

The scientist stared back at U-Mos.

"Allow me to contact my ship, and perhaps we can destroy the meteor before it lands."

The other luminoth in the pit looked back toward him when he said this. Oh no... had he misspoken again?

"We would not ask this of you," U-Mos said deliberately, "but destroying a Leviathan would save our planet... Unfortunately, your ability to contact your ship now remains with the changing weather more than our communication relay. But... if you will help defend us, we will grant you our technology."

Shockwave nodded ever so slightly.

"You have already saved my life, so I suppose I am indebted to you."

After a short moment of silence, U-Mos floated off to one side, landing on a platform to stare down at the metal heap in the center of the room, and Shockwave stepped toward it. The other luminoth glanced up at him, one finally introducing himself as D-Kyr, and explaining what they were doing.

In truth, Quadraxis was not much different than the other Quad robots, even though it was many times larger. Its machinery was all stunning in its beauty; a massive form shielded by white armor plating. It had many more weapons than its smaller counterparts, however, which probably made up a good amount of the mech's total weight.

For a while, Shockwave merely welded panels together, occasionally watching the other luminoth as they worked, noticing only one other who used telekinetic abilities, until a familiar voice caught his attention, and he glanced at the platform beside him to find A-Scl looking up at him.

"Hi," she said, fidgeting awkwardly. "You don't... mind if I work with you again, do you?"

Shockwave turned to face her.

"I typically isolate myself in order to work. But considering my unfamiliarity with your technology, it is only logical."

"... You need to relax."

A-Scl held up her hands, wearing several metal rings on her fingers, and a hologram soon emerged from a device on her palm. Holding the image with one hand, she manipulated the contents with the other, merely by rotating her fingers and clicking two of her rings together. The image she manipulated seemed like text, but it was three dimensional. Orbs of light were held in a cubical matrix, connected by thin bars. From different angles, the orbs lined up to create two dimensional characters, but Shockwave had no idea what any of them meant. A-Scl glanced over at the scientist for a moment, and upon finding him staring at her, she started speaking as she worked.

"I'm trying to reprogram it," she said. "The Chozo had their circular twelve-character condensed text, but we have our three dimensional text. It's... all of the most advanced races had some way of condensing long sentences into a single image. For us, it's these cubes."

"Is that all of its programming?"

"Oh, no, this is just part of the activation mainframe."

With a few flicks of her hand, it looked as though she zoomed out. Layers and layers of more orbs surrounded the cube she held, until the hologram looked more like a solid cube filled with fog than anything specific.

" _ This _ is the sum of its programming. It's mostly intact, but there are some critical parts missing that have kept it from being able to start up."

She zoomed back in to where she'd been before, and started altering the individual bars connecting specific orbs, all with mere flicks of her fingers. Given that she seemed to focus on her work, Shockwave turned to his, and knelt down beside part of the construct's leg, examining one of its joints. D-Kyr soon walked over to him, glancing up at A-Scl for a moment before speaking.

"Can we test the mobility yet?"

A-Scl seemed enthralled in her work, and made no acknowledgement of the question. Shockwave looked back toward the other luminoth, finding him groaning quietly before climbing a ladder onto the platform and waving his hand through A-Scl's hologram.

"Can we test mobility?"

"What? Sure, but give me a minute. I think I'm almost done."

Almost without warning, U-Mos floated down onto the platform, glancing toward Shockwave for a moment.

"You've been quite helpful already. I suppose we'll see if this pays off."

D-Kyr replied before Shockwave could.

"We're not  _ that _ done. We just need to see if the motor control even works."

After a moment, A-Scl finally looked up, gazing toward U-Mos for a moment and promptly turning stiff.

"Ah, I didn't realize you were here, Sentinel."

U-Mos closed his eyes, emanating tranquility as he replied.

"Please, you need not be so formal. Only in that respect am I  _ unlike _ my mother."

Another minute passed until A-Scl finally dispelled the hologram in her hand.

"There, that should be it."

U-Mos turned to Shockwave.

"Back up, we're going to try to activate it."

The scientist took a few steps back, watching as the other luminoth soon did the same. D-Kyr, with a similar interface mechanism in his hands as A-Scl, held up his hands, spinning some holographic cluster of orbs around until the lights on Quadraxis's head finally glowed red. He let his hands drop to his sides, and all the luminoth in the room watched as the mech's head rotated around, seemingly scanning the area around it. Motors started to whir, and the whole of the construct shifted its weight, trying to put its feet flat on the ground once more. D-Kyr activated his control hologram again, spinning more things around.

"It's more coordinated than I would have thought."

U-Mos held his hands behind him as he spoke.

"What a pleasant surprise."

Shockwave stumbled back as Quadraxis suddenly lifted itself to its full height, almost twice his own. The mech seemed to look around once more before walking toward one end of the pit with slow steps. The spinning hologram in D-Kyr's hand grew faster as his voice suddenly turned concerned.

"Wait, I set it to run in repair mode... Come back here!"

A-Scl soon joined him, pulling up her hologram of Quadraxis's programming and finding the cube filled with red streaks.

"It's doing self-repair, it locked me out."

Once Quadraxis reached the end of the room, its head swiveled around, casting a faint red laser toward the three luminoth on the platform. D-Kyr turned increasingly distraught as the construct started to step back toward him.

"Why is nothing  _ working!? _ "

A sound caught Shockwave's attention, and he looked up just in time to watch as Quadraxis fired a cluster of missiles toward the platform, exploding on contact and surrounding the collapsing structure in smoke. Immediately he pointed his cannon toward the machine, staring up at it, backing up toward the wall behind him. A flash of light caught his attention, however, and he looked over to find that, where the platform had been, was a glowing bubble containing U-Mos and the other two luminoth floating within. The bubble reached the ground and dissipated, sending the other two falling a short distance to the floor. They both started running toward one of the doors, as did the others who'd been in the room, and U-Mos looked toward Shockwave as Quadraxis began steadily working its way around the room.

"Go!"

Rather than responding, Shockwave fired at the machine several times, prompting it to rotate its head to face him. He heard something activate, and he transformed, driving away just as a rain of gunfire followed in his tracks. He sped toward U-Mos, transforming back again as soon as the gunfire stopped.

"How do we deactivate it?"

The Sentinel had a look of shock on his face, probably from watching him transform, and held out one hand to generate another barrier to stop the next onslaught of gunfire as he responded, barely even looking toward Quadraxis.

"The head can detach from the body. They communicate through a sonic signal. If that can be disrupted, the body will deactivate, and then we'll be left with the head."

Several repeated explosions stole U-Mos's attention as he focused on his shield, the force imparted on it pushing him back. Finally, Shockwave grabbed the Sentinel's arm and ran, just barely avoiding a massive laser blast. Quadraxis seemed to take a moment to search for them, and Shockwave looked toward U-Mos again, letting him go and allowing him to float before him. The Sentinel glanced over toward one of the doors, and Shockwave soon realized that they must have been locked, considering the other luminoth who'd been in the room cowered near each of the four.

"Oh..." U-Mos muttered. "We gave it access to some of the Fortress computers late in its initial construction..."

"Why!?"

The Sentinel looked back toward Shockwave, his gaze turning furious.

"I regret that now, but that's not the point!"

They fled in opposite directions from a cluster of seeker missiles, and Shockwave started running toward one of the elevated doors where two luminoth stood. He glanced back at Quadraxis briefly upon hearing it start firing at U-Mos again, but turned back to the others.

"How do I disable the sonic signal?"

The two luminoth glanced toward each other for a second before one of them responded.

"You're not going to destroy it!?"

"Not after-"

Shockwave staggered forward, having been hit in the back by some projectile. He braced his hand against the wall, looming over the luminoth, almost collapsing given his already weakened state, but managing to keep his footing and look back at them.

"Not after the amount of effort you put into this."

"You want to save a robot that's attacking you!?"

Another series of projectiles hit Shockwave from behind. He braced himself against the wall with both arms this time, his voice turning exasperated as he replied.

_ "I've saved many robots that have attacked me, what do I do!?" _

"The- There's an antenna where the head joins. If you break it-"

The sound of gunfire muffled the luminoth's reply, and Shockwave turned to find U-Mos again suppressing Quadraxis's attacks with a telekinetic shield. He stepped back from the wall, glancing toward the two luminoth for a moment, but his attention soon turned to a Quad robot off to one side that paced around the room as though nothing was wrong. One of the luminoth screamed, and he found them scrambling out of the way of a targeting laser that followed their movements. Hardly thinking, Shockwave darted forward, grabbing the two awkwardly in one arm and trying to run out of the way, only to promptly be struck with a laser blast to one side. He cried out as he stumbled to the floor, dropping the luminoth to the ground as well. Trying to tune out the sudden burning pain in his left shoulder, he looked down to find that he'd shielded the luminoth from the blast, and he slowly staggered back to his feet.

"Why doesn't it attack the Quad?" he asked. The luminoth seemed dazed, one taking a moment to even respond.

"It... they're on the same network. They're... related. They..."

"Could it pacify Quadraxis?"

"I... maybe?"

Without hesitation, Shockwave ran toward the Quad robot, grabbing it in one hand and scanning it, paying attention to all the signals it sent out, of which there were many. U-Mos floated over to him, still holding a shield up.

"What are you doing?"

Shockwave had no response as he started copying some of the signals, sending them back to Quadraxis. There had to be  _ some _ threat assessment somewhere, some particular signal that told the machines when to attack and when not to. Granted, if Quadraxis didn't respond to the smaller Quad's signal, there was no guarantee that it would respond to his.

A flurry of attacks all struck U-Mos's shield in rapid succession, and he groaned, holding his hands forward and turning his head away as though struggling to continue. Not a moment later, a missile blast broke through the shield, which shattered apart and sounded like glass despite it not being a physical object. The explosion threw the Sentinel flying backward into the wall, where he slumped to the floor, motionless. Shockwave looked back up at the colossal machine towering over him, cycling through all the various signals he could find as rapidly as he could. Quadraxis's head turned toward him, and a targeting laser soon locked on him. The sound of the laser weapon warming up filled the air... but nothing happened. Shockwave froze, watching as the construct soon deactivated its weapons, its head swiveling around to scan the room once more, and lowered itself to the floor, compacting its body and finally shutting down.

He relaxed his hand, letting the other robot he held drop to the floor, and he started backing away with shaky, uncoordinated steps. He glanced over at U-Mos, finding the Sentinel unconscious, and started to feel his legs buckle beneath his weight. He stumbled back, falling backward into one of the walls, where he slid down to the floor. Two of the luminoth hesitantly stepped toward Quadraxis, whereas the other four ran over to U-Mos's side. After a minute, the Sentinel began to move, slowly picking himself up off the floor.

Shockwave glanced over at D-Kyr as he approached. The luminoth still seemed dazed, judging by his stiff movements, but spoke as he stepped toward the scientist.

"What did you... do?"

"I... must have sent Quadraxis a signal telling it to stop fighting."

"... What?"

"The Quad remained passive even as Quadraxis started attacking. U-Mos said it was meant to be an alpha to the others, so I presumed they communicated to each other in some way. I... started sending the signals the Quad emitted back to Quadraxis. One of them must have deactivated it."

"Well... jeez, you saved my life. And managed to shut Quadraxis down without touching it. Are you okay?"

It was only upon remembering his injuries that they started to hurt. Shockwave hesitantly held his hand to his bleeding shoulder.

"I... will be."

They both looked toward U-Mos as he approached, walking normally rather than floating, surrounded by the other luminoth. He held his hand to his chest and bowed toward Shockwave, speaking a second later.

"Thank you. You saved all of us today. Now we have a... logical reason to trust you, don't we?"

"From my perspective, however, it looks as though you're forcing me to work for you and attempting to kill me if I don't."

"Hah! If I wanted to kill you, I'd have much better ways of doing so."

As he said this, a couple of the other luminoth glanced toward him with nervous expressions, and U-Mos turned to them.

"I'm... not going to kill him, you know. He was being sarcastic... You  _ were  _ being sarcastic, right?"

Shockwave watched the faces of the other luminoth as he replied.

"Yes."

"See?"

"Uhh," one of them mumbled, "I don't know that joking about killing a... giant alien robot is very funny."

U-Mos glanced back toward the one who'd spoken, lifting himself off the ground as he replied.

"Perhaps you just lack humor, S-Bel."

"... Really?"

"He  _ said _ he was being sarcastic, I didn't start this."

"You're really doubling down on this?"

While the tone of the conversation didn't seem hostile, the two suddenly shifted to their native language in order to continue arguing, and Shockwave just listened for a minute, trying to commit the sounds of their language to memory. Finally, he  _ very _ slowly got to his feet, eliciting the attention of the other luminoth, and all but limped back toward Quadraxis to continue working on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Superchapter! Normally I post chapters at about 3500 words (the average is around 3700, and by the time I write conclusions it often gets to around there) but I guess this one was just longer than it felt. This one's 4550 words.
> 
> For non-Metroid people, here's a picture of Quadraxis. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G3Z4X06eJjs/maxresdefault.jpg  
> IT'S AN AWESOME BOSS FIGHT.
> 
> My mind has been all over the place this week. There have been several times where I've stopped writing in the middle of a sentence. Now I feel so ashamed about my story that it's making me feel sick, but I'm still writing, so who knows. I'm having a dysfunctional week. Writing this damn paragraph also took me like half an hour, so you can see how bizarrely out of it I am today.


	24. Mending

While Shockwave had worked for some time on the construct, the injury to his shoulder had started to become a hindrance, as his left arm had started to lose mobility, and so he retreated back into the fortress at some point. Naturally, A-Scl followed him closely, asking him about what he needed to do to repair it. As he took his place back in the lab in which he had initially awoken, A-Scl took her place across from him, watching as he started trying to scan his own shoulder with his already weakened arm, finding the task far more difficult than he'd expected.

"So why do you have a gun arm?" she asked.

"It's... a long story."

"I have time."

Shockwave stared at her for a moment, briefly growing agitated with both her and his own arm. Finally he transformed his other arm into a small laser cutter and started delicately picking apart the pieces of his shoulder, all without being able to directly look at it.

"The loss of my hand was my fault. I did not replace it. I was not experienced enough at the time. I've been making practical improvements to my arm since then."

The luminoth stood up, hesitantly stepping over to his side to look at his shoulder, now glowing with energon as it seeped from his wound.

"Does... that hurt?"

"Slightly."

"What are you trying to do? What's wrong?"

"Without being able to scan it, I can only estimate that the burn fused some wiring together."

A-Scl looked as though she wanted to reach forward to help him, but pulled her hands back.

"I... am going to get radiation poisoning from this. Hang on."

She turned away and strode out of the room with hurried footsteps, and briefly Shockwave returned back to trying to scan his own shoulder before again finding the task futile, and looking around to see if there was at least a reflection or  _ something _ he could use. Just as he put his hand back to his shoulder, A-Scl came back into the room, wearing some type of white armor, and strode up to him holding her hands behind her. The armor itself seemed streamlined, thin and dotted with gold lights. Parts of a helmet covered her head, but her face seemed to be uncovered, at least until she moved. Flecks of silver light briefly scattered across a nearly indistinguishable barrier that covered her face.

She stepped toward Shockwave, seeming fearless as she reached out toward his shoulder. Reflexively, the scientist grabbed at his shoulder and leaned away from her, staring silently at her, watching her eyes as she averted her gaze. A-Scl started to fidget, and Shockwave let out a sigh of resignation.

"Don't do  _ anything _ I don't  _ explicitly _ tell you to do."

The luminoth stared back into his eye, still tense. Shockwave hesitantly let go of his shoulder and relaxed his posture, noticing that A-Scl soon followed. She stepped toward him, staring for a moment at his wound.

"Doctors make the worst patients."

"That's an axiom in your culture as well?"

"Jeez, you sound like a bad artificial intelligence program trying to sound smart."

Shockwave stared at her for a moment in confusion, and she seemed to struggle to mend her words, stepping away as she tried to think of what to say.

"I mean... I'm not saying you're-... I just mean that you sound really... forced."

"... Forced?"

"I... okay, stupid question, but are you... uhh... built like robots? Or...?"

"... Or?"

"Or are you organic? In... whatever that means to you."

"Cybertronians have aspects of both."

"So why do you breathe?"

"Were you going to help repair my shoulder?"

"Yeah, but see, most people don't say 'repair'. Usually that just applies to machines."

Shockwave reached back to his shoulder, cutting off and removing an armor panel stained with energon. Despite the discomfort that accompanied it, he started delicately feeling for the wiring in his arm, and A-Scl soon went silent as she watched him. After a moment, he found a spot that had been melted, as he expected, and felt the awkward lumps of burnt metal that surrounded it.

"There..."

A-Scl stepped toward him, watching his hand.

"So you really are robots then?" she muttered. "Well... I can fix robots."

Shockwave groaned in aggravation as he stared toward the luminoth.

"We are not artificially constructed, if that's what you're asking. There are some aspects of cybertronian biology that are irreparable if damaged. There is a reason why my left arm cannot simply be replaced with a new hand. If that were possible, I'd have done it myself centuries ago. The difference between me and your military drones is that  _ I  _ have a spark."

"You have two, don't you?"

Shockwave froze, recoiling somewhat from A-Scl. This just  _ had _ to come up at the most inopportune times, didn't it? Still, her question was genuine, and in the interest of science. And that was a respectable pursuit.

"I... ngh... The second spark does not exactly belong to me, but rather... to an... infant."

A-Scl perked upright, taking a step back.

"Wait, you're... pregnant?"

All Shockwave could manage in response was a quiet, awkward groan as he looked away, a response that didn't exactly answer the question either way. A-Scl hesitated for a moment.

"That... explains a lot, actually. So thanks. And... congratulations, I guess-"

Shockwave abruptly stared toward her.

_ "No!" _

"What?"

"No. I..."

The scientist let out a sigh as he gathered a torrent of thoughts that had raged in the back of his mind until now. He stared off into the distance as he spoke, his aura filled with nervousness and smothered shame.

"I don't want this. But I'm currently conflicted, seeing as it was only because of it that I was able to survive my previous injuries. I regret the negligence and distraction that allowed this to continue, but... I would not be alive otherwise. So now I am morally obligated to keep it. But that runs counter to my own wishes, which leaves me to ask myself why my personal feelings lead me to a logically immoral choice, albeit one that I  _ desperately _ wish to act upon."

"I think 'logically immoral' is an oxymoron."

"Nonsense. Morality can be relatively quantified."

"Morality is subjective. Everyone has different views on what's moral. Or at least... we do. I don't know about your culture."

"A set standard of morality is not ubiquitously accepted, but among nearly all views of morality is the concept that it should be wrong to kill a person who saved your life."

A-Scl took a slow, meandering couple of steps backward.

"Uhh... That  _ is _ a conundrum, I guess. I mean... I don't... I don't know if I even want to say anything..."

"... I should not have mentioned it."

"I started it... Sorry."

"Your questions were misplaced and irksome but in a genuine pursuit of knowledge, so you need not apologize."

A-Scl tilted her head somewhat, the tone of her voice shifting to one almost of bewilderment.

"Seriously, are you like...  _ trained _ to speak with the most weirdly, unnecessarily long words?"

"... Ugh."

Shockwave reached back to the melted wiring in his shoulder again, and A-Scl stepped toward him again.

"See!" she exclaimed, " _ that _ was a natural response. That makes you seem normal."

"Normal by what standards?"

"By... what I think of as normal, in my isolated culture."

Shockwave cringed suddenly as A-Scl, without warning, moved his hand out of the way and brushed her fingers against the exposed wiring in his shoulder. Upon seeing his reaction, she reflexively pulled her hands back.

"Ah, sorry!"

"Don't do that again."

"Sorry, sorry... where do I start here?"

The scientist briefly felt his shoulder again.

"It seems... several wires were melted due to the laser blast, which likely resulted in further deterioration from short circuiting."

"Oh, I see."

"So the existing wiring needs to be reconnected."

"Right."

A-Scl hesitantly started working, grabbing various materials from around the room and asking Shockwave about each one. The actual work that needed to be done on his shoulder was, all things considered, not much, but with the luminoth's slow, deliberate, nervous work, the process became much longer than Shockwave would have expected. Gradually, he started succumbing to fatigue, his body growing increasingly relaxed and his mind quieting. For what felt like forever, he just listened to the sounds around him; the quiet hum of motors, the steady clicking of gears, the muffled voices of luminoth in other rooms.

"Shockwave?"

The scientist finally opened his eye and looked toward A-Scl, hardly realizing he'd started falling asleep until her voice prodded his mind again.

"You okay?"

There were many ways to answer that.

"Why?"

"I just... wanted to make sure you weren't dying or something... Not that I could really do anything if you were."

Shockwave looked over at his left arm, moving it gently, then glanced back toward A-Scl.

"It appears you were successful. Thank you."

The luminoth seemed to hesitate, her voice growing quiet.

"Are you okay though? I mean... so much happened to you..."

Shockwave shifted his weight, sitting more upright.

"I am... far from being in ideal condition, but as of now I am alright."

"What do you need?"

"Time, energon, the equipment in my lab."

"How long until..."

A-Scl backed away from him slowly as she continued.

"Until you have your... child?"

Shockwave looked away, suddenly realizing that he'd never actually thought about that.

"I'm not certain. Several months, at least."

"You don't know?"

"I didn't particularly care, considering that, up until now, I'd intended to kill it."

A-Scl's expression turned dismayed as she went silent. Shockwave looked back toward her after a moment, consciously trying to change the subject.

"I... should rest."

The luminoth looked up at him, seeming all too eager to oblige suddenly. She started backing away again as she spoke.

"Yeah, right, it's late. Are you oka-no, I asked that already. You'll be... fine here?"

"Yes."

It was almost entertaining to watch A-Scl's awkward meandering as she walked backward across the room, mumbling to herself in an attempt to find something to say to Shockwave. Finally, she stopped at the door, and seemed to gather her thoughts.

"So uh... thanks for saving my life again."

"You're welcome."

A warm smile appeared on the luminoth's face for a moment before, as awkward as ever, she turned and walked out through the door.

 

The following day was no less strange than the first.

Most of the same luminoth he'd met before once again returned to working on Quadraxis, all of them at some point or other thanking Shockwave for disabling it without causing any damage. As he worked idly on realigning various components, U-Mos floated over to him from one side, and Shockwave turned to look at him as the Sentinel spoke.

"Shockwave... I hate to say this, but I don't believe our satellite dish will be repaired any time soon. It was not ours to begin with, and it was heavily damaged long ago in a Pirate attack."

The scientist started working again as he responded.

"I suppose if I can get to the ship I crashed here in, I might be able to leave with it, or at least construct my own relay."

U-Mos's voice turned dejected as he replied.

"Oh..."

Shockwave turned to face him, uneasiness starting to permeate his aura.

"You... did not destroy it, did you?"

"Oh, no, no, but it is quite far from here, past the Agon Wastes, and I would certainly not allow you to travel there unaccompanied."

"Why is that?"

"The desert plains that stretch between here and where your ship fell are inhabited by Amorbis worms. They lurk beneath the sand, waiting, feeling for vibrations from prey walking above them. The easiest way to avoid attack is to travel with a group of people."

"I see."

"But if you wish to return to your ship, I can gather a group to travel with you."

"How did you transport me here in the first place?"

"Very carefully."

Shockwave finally stopped working and set down his tools, turning to face U-Mos again.

"Very well."

The Sentinel nodded slowly in response, and turned away slightly to leave when A-Scl walked up to him, her eyes bright and inquisitive.

"You're taking him to Agon?"

"Not personally, no."

"Can I go with Shockwave?"

A-Scl glanced up at the scientist for a moment before U-Mos replied.

"Across the valley? No, that's far too treacherous."

"But it's not too treacherous for him to go?"

The scientist couldn't help but grow ever so slightly aggravated by their speaking about him right beside him, but seeing as he had nothing to offer to the exchange, he merely watched as U-Mos sighed before responding.

"I am not thrilled about sending anyone on this journey, but considering our guest's current needs, I cannot afford to send anyone except the most experienced people to escort him."

A-Scl's antennae drooped back to her head as she looked away, seeming to concede finally. After a moment, however, she glanced back up at Shockwave for a fleeting moment.

"Well... at least tell me before you leave."

He had no inkling of an idea as to why, but A-Scl  _ really _ seemed to like him for some reason.

"I will come back. I must reunite with the rest of the crew, but I will likely advise them to remain here for some time."

"Oh! I thought this was going to be one of those stories about having two days to help a wayward traveler return home or something like that."

U-Mos started laughing quietly for a moment, before floating back away from the other two.

"I'll gather the team. It will take a little while before the desert striders are ready again."

Shockwave looked down at A-Scl.

"What's a desert strider?"

With a quiet, excited laugh, she smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minichapter! Sorry, that's not as exciting as superchapter.  
> I enjoy the topic of pregnant Shockwave exactly as much as he does. That is to say, not at all. Why include it then, you ask? Because my evil mind refuses to let me NOT put it into a story. So I am genuinely ashamed of all this, and yet I keep writing it. But I hate it. But it will end up being SO worth it. But it's literally the strangest thing I've come up with, so I guess I have to thank you personally for sticking around for this long in spite of all this weirdness.
> 
> And then my Shockwave figure stares at me from my dresser, judging me with his unwavering gaze, and I both sympathize with him, as well as, on occasion, regretting nothing I've done to him. He's the ONLY one who could put up with all this.  
> The only one aside from you, patron reader.


	25. Striding Through the Desert

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So the delay between the last chapter and this one was because I suddenly got swept up in yarn spinning. I know that's about the last thing you'd expect, but I'm fully obsessed now. I'm trying to make my own combs, and if anyone has any cotton carders they don't need...  
> Also since last time I basically invented my own form of hollow kumihimo braiding AND mapped out how it makes patterns. I'm like the Shockwave of fiber arts, I'm just a mad scientist with string. I even went so far as to make my own ball winder out of legos before receiving a real one for christmas.

It did not take very long to get to the former luminoth base in Agon; just an elevator ride to descend the sheer cliffs of Sanctuary Fortress, and one more to travel further down into the desert plains. As U-Mos led him through the area, Shockwave frequently looked around, watching the life that scurried along the ground beneath him or flew overhead. Oh, how he  _ needed _ to study these. The small birds that circled bridges and platforms, the insects that hovered in the air, the scavengers that crawled along walls and ceilings, the strange, blue, spiked pods that looked like strange cacti. U-Mos glanced toward the scientist at one point, noticing him eying one of the cacti, and stopped beside it, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.

"Ah, these."

He held up one hand, and a ball of light began to grow in his palm. After a second, he threw this ball toward the plant with a flick of his hand, and the cactus burst apart, revealing a small object inside that looked like a metal box with wisps of black smoke seeping from its seams. The Sentinel lifted the box out of the plant, holding it up.

"These plants are used as storage containers."

Shockwave looked down at the box U-Mos held.

"What is that?"

The Sentinel let out a dismayed sigh as he opened the box, emptying several small, black objects into his hand. He lifted these up to float above his hand, and one of them flew off suddenly, turning into a swirling black mass that hurtled across the room. He did the same with the other four a moment later.

"Ammunition, specifically dark ammo. We developed it during our war, hoping that it would turn the tides of battle, but it only remains effective against the creatures in this world. I wish we could empty all these caches of their weapons, but there are many of these plants, these bearerpods, and they are one of the simplest containers for storing dark ammo."

U-Mos moved on as he continued speaking.

"Dark ammo is humidity-sensitive, and readily decays in dry environments. As you can imagine, Agon does not receive much rainfall, so storing the ammo inside these cacti is a simple way to keep them hidden and preserve them without much effort."

"Do the cacti grow back?"

"Usually, yes. Life in Agon has become quite resilient over time."

Shockwave hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

"Who were you fighting in your war?"

U-Mos froze, stopping in his tracks. He turned to Shockwave, floating up to show him a hologram in one hand of a five-legged spider with tendrils streaming from its head, and a large, central eye.

"The Ing. I told you about the Leviathan that crashed on this planet, and that it split our world in two. It did not split the planet physically, but rather, dimensionally. This world remained, but a new one was born, one of shadow to this one's light. The Ing came out of this darkness, seeming intelligent and sophisticated, but they only sought to control and subdue other life."

The Sentinel let his hand drop down, and he again started moving as he continued.

"They were able to infuse themselves into other forms of life, taking control over their minds and bodies, turning even the most benign creatures against us. They nearly turned all of the dimensional energy for this world over to theirs, which would have ended all life on this planet. But obviously, and fortunately, that did not happen."

"I do not assume you will let me study any of them."

"No, the Ing are exterminated, and that is the way it should be. The luminoth have been a peaceful people, but we were driven to the savageness of war out of necessity. I hope never to see such measures taken again."

Shockwave hesitated for a moment, but finally muttered quietly in response.

"Your war is much simpler to understand than ours. Millenia of conflict, and only our side is ready to concede to an armistice. That is the only reason we are even here. We left our homeworld, but haven't progressed very far."

"What was the source of your war?"

"At its core it was a slave uprising. The conflict came from discussions regarding which was the best way to go about abolishing the caste system to free the slaves. The autobots wanted to be cooperative with the governments and the oppressive elite caste in order to... create results peacefully, but the decepticons, comprised mainly of slaves, found their methods practically ineffective and time-consuming, and so rebelled violently, considering we were not afforded much of an opportunity to affect change on our own."

"You were a slave?"

"No, but I am a decepticon, and I retain a belief that pacifism and cooperation would only have served to prolong the plight of the slave caste, not to help it."

"I cannot say that I support the concept of a violent rebellion, but I do not hold that against you."

"In truth, many decepticons accept that their violence came from long-suppressed rage, and that some initial riots were excessive, but I do believe some amount of violence was necessary. Starscream was quite insightful at the time. He once said that there was no way Cybertron could subjugate a planet full of slaves for generations without something eventually breaking apart."

"... Interesting. I do not know the details, however, so I cannot reasonably pass judgement. Ah, here we are."

U-Mos floated through a massive gate that opened to a seemingly infinite expanse of desert, where five luminoth lingered beside five strange vehicles, looking like small motorcycles held within circular frames. The Sentinel looked around at the other luminoth, all dressed in light gray suits, all starting to put on helmets, before glancing toward Shockwave.

"I hate to see you go, and I wish I could accompany you, but these five will guide you to where your ship crashed."

"How long will this take?"

"Ideally, only about two hours. But these trips across the valley are usually not ideal, and so I cannot say for certain."

The Sentinel gestured toward each individual luminoth.

"K-Rel will lead your group. He is more experienced with the desert striders than anyone else among us. M-Fvr, however, knows the Amorbis worms well, and can help you all avoid them. D-Ska, K-Mir and S-Tch are all fine warriors, more than equipped to deal with the worms if they show themselves."

There was no way he was going to remember all those names. U-Mos turned back toward him as he continued.

"Fortunately for you, Shockwave, you can apparently transform into a tank, and so long as your... treads remain intact, you should have no trouble traversing the sand."

Shockwave stared down at U-Mos for a moment.

"You are going through all this effort to avoid worms?"

One of the luminoth in the group responded hesitantly, letting out a seemingly nervous sound as she spoke.

"Uhh... It's hard to explain unless you've actually  _ seen _ an Amorbis."

"And I certainly hope you don't," U-Mos added. "Remember, it is vital that you keep moving."

"Why is that?" Shockwave asked. The second luminoth he'd introduced spoke in his stead.

"The worms sense prey through vibrations in the sand, of course. They estimate the size of potential prey by... feeling for the intensity of those vibrations. They wait until a target stops moving, and if they decide they're going to strike, they rapidly burrow up through the sand to try and swallow whatever lies above them. We move with parties of usually five desert striders, spaced apart in formation so that the Amorbis worms think we're too large a target for them, and are less likely to attack us."

"The desert striders are your vehicles?"

Whatever his name was gestured to the odd-looking machines with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah. Those are the only things that'll be sure to get you across the desert. Nothing else rolls on sand very well except treads, but those aren't as maneuverable."

U-Mos straightened his posture, holding a hand to his chest and bowing toward Shockwave.

"Please feel welcome to return to us in the future. If I do not see you again, know that it has been an honor to greet a new race to Aether."

"I do intend to return here, Sentinel."

"I look forward to that. May the Light of Aether guide your way..."

With that, he backed away, and the five other luminoth moved to their vehicles, starting the engines. Each one was, in essence, a motorcycle surrounded by its one wheel, consisting of two rings spaced just far enough apart from one another to see between them from the center. As the engines whirred to life, however, a third ring folded down and began to spin, encircling the vehicle horizontally. Shockwave stared for a moment, looking toward the leader.

"What is the horizontal ring for?"

"Gyroscope balancer. I love these things."

He flipped down a visor on his helmet and reached forward toward the handlebars, watching as Shockwave transformed. It was something of a miracle that he could even still transform in his current state. But, with a nod, the luminoth took off, and the group started off into the barren desert.

Though the landscape was unpleasant, the drive was not difficult. As they continued on, however, the ground gradually turned from gravel and dried clay to sand and dust, and Shockwave started to understand why their odd-looking vehicles were named desert striders. As the terrain eventually faded to nothing but sand dunes, Shockwave occasionally struggled to climb some, stalling and kicking up sand, only to find the luminoth around him accelerating, flying up the sides of dunes and jumping off of them with excited shouts, then speeding down the other side and spinning back around to catch up with Shockwave just as he reached the top. Regardless of how many of them sped away to jump hills, however, they seemed very careful to always have at least two people beside the scientist, following at his pace. After about an hour following their departure, something caught Shockwave's attention, and he looked up, finding several black dots hovering in the sky ahead. Were they mirages? Birds? They lingered for some time as he continued, but after a while he realized they were actually approaching. Not a minute later, he realized what they were, and began to slow down. The luminoth around him slowed as he did, until the group all stopped, Shockwave transforming to stare up into the sky, and the leader taking his helmet off.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Shockwave pointed up at the silhouettes, walking forward to meet six insecticons as they let out their distinctive scream in unison, then transformed and fell to the sand.

"Oracle!" one of them yelled. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Shockwave muttered, glancing between them and the luminoth a few times before speaking to the luminoth first.

"These are other members of my crew. They are a different species than me."

He turned back to the insecticons.

"These people are natives of this planet guiding me back to where the ship fell. What of the Erebus?"

Two of the luminoth started driving again, though they mostly just meandered in circles around the group. One of the insecticons started becoming fascinated with the sand, it seemed, burying his claws into it and letting it slip between his fingers, before finally just toppling onto his back and squirming around in it. One of the others watched him for a moment, before looking back toward Shockwave.

"There were casualties, but they managed to recover the Apex Sirion. Soundwave apparently got a message from your ship, but he couldn't locate the beacon with all the interference. We... departed on our own before getting permission from Lord Megatron."

"I am thankful that you did."

One of the luminoth spoke up suddenly.

"Uhh, problem."

Everyone turned to face him. He held a small device in one hand, looking like a scanner, and after a second, frantically reached for the handlebars on his desert strider and took off as quickly as it would go.

_ "Amorbis! Move!" _

The other four luminoth scrambled out of the way, the leader dropping his helmet to the sand and speeding off. Shockwave hardly had the time to transform and start to drive away when the ground beneath him burst upward, throwing him into the air. He transformed back as he hit the ground and tumbled through the sand, finally looking over to witness a massive worm flying up into the air, rotating its body just as it began to fall, so that it dove back into the sand head first and tunneled away just as quickly as it had appeared. Two of the insecticons soon ran to his side as he slowly started to shift his weight, his body wracked with pain.

"Are you okay?"

One of the luminoth drove over to Shockwave, stopping next to him, grabbing a spear from her back with one hand, its shaft golden and adorned with various lights, and tipped with a black crystal shrouded in dark fog.

"Keep moving, Shockwave! It's going to come back!"

With that, she drove off, and the insecticons practically pulled the scientist to his feet. After only a few moments, tremors rocked the sand again, and the Amorbis emerged beside one of the luminoth, flying up into the air again. Shockwave started firing at it, and the three luminoth warriors all began launching bursts of energy from their spears, identical to the shots of dark ammo U-Mos had shown him. The worm let out an awful screech, its body wriggling awkwardly in midair. When it fell back to the ground, it hit the sand at somewhat of an angle, and it took a moment for it to tunnel beneath the sand once more. Shockwave started stumbling forward, knowing he had to keep moving, but not quite able to will himself to transform. The two insecticons still lingered right beside him, and it took a second for him to even realize they were still holding onto his arms to try and keep him upright.

"Oracle?" one of them tentatively asked. Right. That's what they called him now. Shockwave looked over at each of the two.

"Stay in the air. I can... I-"

The sand beside them was thrown upward with another emergence, and while Shockwave wasn't as close this time, he was momentarily buried in the torrent of sand that followed. He started trying to climb to his feet, only to stumble considering his feet were still embedded in the ground. He looked up, finding one of the insecticons latched onto the Amorbis's head, slashing wildly with his claws. The worm started writhing about again, and just as it began to fall, Shockwave frantically staggered through the sand, just barely making it out of the way as the Amorbis fell back to the ground.

But this time, there was an impact that had not occurred the other times it had emerged. Shockwave looked back, finding the worm lying across the ground, writhing, flailing beneath the insecticon that continued to claw at it, desperately trying to tunnel to safety once more. The luminoth all began to converge on the beast, throwing shot after shot toward it. Shockwave started firing at it again, even as he laid in the sand, despite the fact that for whatever reason, he felt as though his gunfire did nothing at all. 

Then, just as the luminoth started to draw near, the worm reached back, grabbing the insecticon's leg with its massive jaws, and disappeared into the sand, taking the bug with it. Shockwave could only remain there, watching the spot where it had burrowed, waiting for some sign of life. After a moment, he remembered that he needed to keep moving, and so he staggered to his feet, his eye locked on the same spot in the sand, and trudged along. The insecticon to his side clung to him, also watching the sand, emitting a strange series of noises, alternating between some greatly displeased growling and the signature cry of the insecticons, raising his head with a jerky motion every time he did so. After a moment, some kind of rumbling echoed from beneath the sand, and the worm's head emerged nearby, holding the insecticon. The rest of the worm's body remained submerged as it violently swung its head, tossing the insecticon's body off to one side while one of its legs remained in its mouth. As shots from the luminoth began to strike its head, it hurriedly tossed the leg aside and dove back into the sand. Shockwave started running as much as he could toward the form lying motionless on the ground, and the insecticon beside him soon transformed, hovering above the scientist and grabbing his arms to lift him up and carry him over.

The poor bug was covered in scratches, probably from having been dragged through sand, and almost every armor panel on his body was bleeding. Energon already seeped down through the sand, and Shockwave began working, his mind suddenly clear, all thoughts of the Amorbis pushed aside. Even as it emerged again, he only focused on his work, not even glancing over toward the commotion as the fight continued.

But working without energon was difficult. Sealing so many wounds would be next to impossible without the proper tools...

Shockwave looked down next to him, finding the insecticon's blood pooling beneath him rather than percolating down into the sand as he would have expected. He dug into the sand, finding that it had started coalescing into a hard film, though it was still brittle. Without much of a second thought, he started grabbing handfuls of sand and pouring it over the insecticon's wounds, watching as it reacted with the energon and hardened into a sealing layer. Again, the Amorbis jumped up, trying to grab one of the luminoth, only to dive back into the sand. But Shockwave continued working, throwing sand over the bug, forming a pile of it to seal the wound on his severed leg.

But not a moment later, the scientist found himself thrown upward by another attack, and it took him a second to realize that the worm held him in its mouth. The insecticons all began to swoop down toward him, and Shockwave abruptly rammed his gun into the worm's mouth and fired round after round as rapidly as he could. It was the only defense he had. Just as they started to fall again, Shockwave closed his eye, focusing solely on firing at the worm as fast as he could. Finally, it let out a horrible screech, and he felt its jaws release him from its grip. There was a brief moment of tranquility as he fell, though it seemed like an eternity, and strangely enough, the only thought that ran through his mind was what kind of sand this had to be to react with energon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The desert striders are not Metroid canon, but Amorbis is. It's a boss that consists of three worms, so I'm actually not sure if a single worm is called Amorbis or Amorbi.  
> I was honestly not expecting this chapter to end like this, or for this whole section of Shockwave trying to leave Aether to become this lengthy. But man, writing U-Mos is fun.  
> Also you never thought sand would become a plot device. Pocket sand!


	26. Science

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wrote most of this on my phone.

Shockwave awoke rather suddenly, finding himself being carried by one of the insecticons, wrapped up in metal legs. They flew above the ground, now dotted with stone features as opposed to sand dunes. He only needed to squirm slightly for the bug to take notice of him. The insecticon looked down at him as much as he could for a moment.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Shockwave was about to ask to be put back down so he could drive himself, but given the exhaustion that quickly overcame him, he hesitated before replying.

"I... require energon."

"In our haste, we didn't think to bring any."

"I cannot say that decision was illogical, but... it was unfortunate."

Shockwave looked over to his left, finding other insecticons carrying the unconscious, blood-stained victim, along with his detached leg. The bug carrying Shockwave spoke after a minute.

"We apologize, Oracle. We should have been more prepared."

"Regarding that title, I was informed that Sanctum is not possible to reach."

"How? How do you know?"

"The luminoth know the place. They told me that the strain of energon that comprises it is infected, and that the planet is under guard."

The insecticon went silent for some time, and Shockwave merely watched the ground scroll by below him, staring at rocks and occasional shrubs as they passed by. Finally, Shockwave spoke again.

"You began calling me your Oracle even before we had left Cybertron. I respect the title, but I have no more of an ability to predict the future than you."

"You are still our Oracle. You still united our hives, and showed us that Sanctum is real. That is enough for me. Regardless of whether you can make predictions, your spark resonates with ours."

He went silent again, and Shockwave looked up, able to see the remains of his ship in the distance, no more than a tiny silver dot on the horizon.

As such, it didn't take very long for the group to finally reach the ship.

It laid at the end of a trench it created when it fell, covered in a thin layer of dust. Much of the silver exterior was bent and warped, the main hatch was left open, presumably by the luminoth who'd found him. Upon being returned to the ground, Shockwave stepped inside, finding the pools of energon he'd bled, as well as the computer terminal, which still somehow functioned. Two of the luminoth lingered by the hatch, watching as he started looking through status reports on the terminal. The craft had received a significant amount of damage, but perhaps its communications relay could be amplified somehow...

One of the luminoth warriors spoke, her voice somewhat quiet and hesitant.

"It's not as stormy as it was before... Maybe the interference has died down?"

Shockwave glanced back at her for a moment, then looked off into the distance, lost in thought. After a minute, he turned back to the terminal and began navigating through all sorts of settings, all while a few luminoth and some of the insecticons watched him in silence.

The interference only occupied a specific range of frequencies, from what he could tell, so if he could shift his transmission to a lesser used frequency, perhaps it could get through. Of course, it would be harder to locate considering the ship's computers would think he was moving away due to doppler shift...  but Soundwave would be able to figure it out.

With a keystroke, the beacon started transmitting again at the new frequency. Just as Shockwave started to turn away, the console beeped, implying a response ping. And just as one insecticon started to creep closer, Starscream's voice came through the speakers.

"Shockwave?"

"Starscream."

There was a brief moment of awkward silence before the seeker spoke again, although his voice was accompanied by a fluctuating amount of static.

"What took you so long?"

"That is a long story. Where is Soundwave?"

Immediately, Starscream's voice turned harsh.

"Yeah,  _ yeah,  _ we all know you're just fragging  _ obsessed  _ with him now, there's no need to  _ brag _ about it."

Shockwave took a deep breath, trying to ignore the tendrils of anger that tried to suffocate him. He grabbed firmly onto the edge of the console as he replied, his voice slow and deliberate.

"I mean  _ only _ to ask for the reason that you are currently in his position."

"That is a long story. I'm... trying to get a groundbridge fix."

The channel went silent for a while, and Shockwave finally turned to step back outside, looking at the five luminoth and six insecticons around him. All of these people had gone out of their way to help him... all eleven of them. As much as he hated that much attention, it was deserving of his gratitude. He looked away, staring down at the ground as he spoke.

"I realize that all of you have put yourselves at risk for the sole purpose of protecting me, and I am appreciative of that."

One of the insecticons replied almost immediately.

"We gladly devote ourselves to our Oracle."

Shockwave looked toward the leader of the luminoth group who again took his helmet off to speak.

"Yeah, after the whole thing with Quadraxis, we're happy to help. But... do we wait here for you to come back, or...?"

"I likely will not return for some time, and I will not come back to this exact location, so it would be logical for you to return. Again... thank you."

The luminoth started to return to their vehicles, and the leader waved to him once more.

"Light of Aether guide you!"

Eventually, Shockwave was going to have to ask them what that meant.

The luminoth started to drive away, the sounds of their engines fading into the silence of the desert air, until finally, a groundbridge opened up some distance away. Without a word, the insecticons stepped through first, followed by Shockwave slowly trudging along. As he stepped onto the bridge of the Alterium, he glanced around, finding the broken window and the melted remains of a portion of the room. Megatron and Starscream stood by the console, watching the groundbridge. The gladiator smiled upon seeing Shockwave, stepping toward him as Starscream closed the portal.

"Shockwave! I'm glad to see you're alright. Soundwave was convinced you had perished."

"I came close to perishing. I was saved by the native population."

"Natives?"

"The Luminoth. I can only describe them as... moth people with superior technology... and magic."

"Uhh... that's... intriguing."

"I see there is much that needs explaining. Where is Soundwave?"

Starscream rolled his eyes as he walked over beside Megatron.

"Ugh, you really are obsessed with him now, aren't you?"

In an instant, the tendrils of anger that Shockwave felt before completely seized him, and he reached over, grabbing Starscream by the neck and holding him up in the air. While he barely noticed, Megatron stepped away from him as he did this. The seeker let out a startled gasp, grabbing at Shockwave's arm in panic as the scientist spoke.

"You  _ fail to realize,  _ Starscream, that I do  _ not  _ hold the same attachment to Soundwave as he does to me. I ask about his wellbeing out of concern for the  _ third in command of the decepticons. _ I would extend the same concern to you, even though I know for a fact that you would not do the same for me. I will  _ not  _ tolerate suggestions that I am unable to perform my work because of him."

With that, he let go of Starscream, letting him drop to the floor, where he started coughing for a moment before climbing to his feet and frantically backing out of the room. Shockwave glanced over at Megatron for a moment, then looked down toward the floor.

"Ironically, that was an overreaction."

"It was, but it was one he deserved."

"So where is Soundwave?"

Megatron's expression turned solemn, and he looked away.

"... Come with me."

He started to walk off, and Shockwave had to will himself to follow, given that his whole body begged for energon, and the opportunity to rest. Nonetheless, the scientist said nothing as he followed Megatron through several hallways, coming to one of the Alterium's other labs. No one was inside, but the tables and counters were strewn with all sorts of materials; the disorganization and chaos causing Shockwave to cringe slightly in disgust. Finally, Megatron spoke.

"In our first battle, the ship that struck the Apex Sirion was successfully disabled, and once we had the resources to, we explored the vessel. We found bodies of the aliens that attacked us, and we also found..."

The gladiator stepped over to one counter, picking up a canister of energon filled with branching growths, and held this out toward Shockwave. The scientist took the canister in his hand, staring at it as Megatron continued.

"This substance... this infected energon... has killed at least one vehicon, and seemingly corrupted Soundwave, Ratchet, and a large portion of the crew. Soundwave... started being able to move crystals of energon with his mind somehow, and actually challenged me to a duel, trying to overthrow me. He was... subdued, and we're having to deprive him of energon while we try to figure out what to do. The rest of the corrupted were lured onto the Apex, which was jettisoned and hit with the disruptor cannon."

Shockwave continued to stare at the canister in his hand, muttering only one word.

"Phazon..."

"Hm?"

The scientist finally set the object down and looked toward Megatron.

"The luminoth explained all of this very well, although I did not fully grasp it until now. They know of this infected energon, which they call phazon, and the Space Pirates who attacked us. This is why we cannot go to Sanctum."

"What does that have to do with this?"

Shockwave grabbed the canister of phazon again, gesturing with it toward Megatron.

"That planet is entirely made of this. And if cybertronians are susceptible to it, then there's no way we could survive there."

The gladiator held up a hand momentarily, then shook his head.

"Right now, I just need you to help the crew."

Shockwave looked away briefly.

"The luminoth said there was antiphazon, but they're not the ones who manufacture it. Allow me to return, and I will ask them about it."

"You trust these luminoth?"

"I do."

"Is that logical?"

"They sent five people to drive with me to where my ship crashed, two hours across a desert infested with giant sand worms."

Megatron stared blankly at him, and so Shockwave continued.

"I do trust them. And since Sanctum is unreachable, I would suggest staying on this planet for some time."

"A planet filled with sand worms?"

"There are... better areas."

"As I said, we can worry about future plans later. Do what you must to help the crew. I will not restrict you in that."

"... Yes, master."

Megatron walked out, leaving Shockwave to rest his weight against the counter for a moment. As much as he wanted to return to his real work, he needed energon first. He grabbed a canister of energon from the lab stores, which was technically unauthorized use of lab equipment, but.... whatever. Slowly he trudged back to his quarters, where he almost immediately started drinking the energon, only able to focus solely on that one action.

The pressures of necessity had made it taste delightful.

Then, with his mind almost completely blank, Shockwave flopped ungracefully onto his bed, and, to his perception, instantly fell asleep.

 

That rest had been very needed, since Shockwave later realized that he'd gone almost four days without energon, all while struggling to heal from a myriad of various injuries.

He soon returned to Aether, seeking out U-Mos once more and being informed that, while antiphazon worked to kill the fungal corruption, it did so by reacting with energon to neutralize it, and so would not be applicable to cybertronians. And so he returned to the broken remains of the ship, lost in his own world as his mind began to churn with options. He scoured through Ratchet's notes, listened to Knockout's observations, and remained all but silent as he started theorizing what he could do. Then, as much as Megatron had chided him in the past for doing so, he shut himself in his lab and locked the door, sitting for a while in silence, just staring at the phazon before him.

It was strange how research was normally a conscious process, and yet in times of great necessity, Shockwave needed only to isolate himself and turn off his thoughts for ideas to spring forth. It was in no way logical, but perhaps that was because creativity was not logical.

He didn't bother to keep track of the time as he started working, since that only served as another distraction.

If dark energon successfully inhibited mycelium growth, as Starscream and Megatron demonstrated, perhaps there was a way to disrupt its metabolism. Maybe that meant infusing everyone with a large dose of dark energon, but that would require a finished, stable synthetic alternative.

Their dark energon stores were only limited to about two large crystals, but that would be more than enough for Shockwave to complete his work.

 

Infusion of processed dark energon equal to 3% mass shows slowed mycelium growth.

Infusion of processed dark energon equal to 5% mass shows inhibited mycelium growth, some failed growths.

 

Method of action seems to be disruption of metabolism through osmosis, and inhibition of active transport chains by unknown method. These properties do not occur with other substances tested (see complete list) and can therefore be associated with dark energon's unique chemical properties.

 

Distillation of dark energon concentrates the effect by removing impurities, but greatly increases toxicity. Infusion of distilled dark energon at 6% should be sufficient to eradicate the fungal growths, but may cause subsequent tissue damage.

 

Confirmed that 6% infusion of distilled dark energon kills fungal growths over ~10 hours, with moderate risk to causing toxicity in host.

 

Shockwave finally stepped out of his lab at some point, though he just stood at the threshold for a minute, remembering that the rest of the world had continued existing during his absence from it. He made his way to the bridge, holding a box of supplies in one hand, and found Megatron standing over one console on the side of the room, seemingly annoyed. He looked over at Shockwave and stood upright, his voice confirming that he was annoyed.

"You know I don't appreciate when you isolate yourself like that."

"I apologize, master, but it is the only method by which I might complete my work this quickly."

"You're done?"

"Dark energon can be used to purge the infection. I would like to use the current dark energon stores to attempt this on Soundwave first, considering he's the only corrupted individual on this ship. If that succeeds, I will need to finish my work on developing a synthetic version in order to treat the rest of the crew."

Megatron seemed to think for a moment before looking back toward Shockwave.

"... Alright. I'll show you where he is."

The gladiator looked back at the console briefly, his eyes narrowing before he finally raised his arm cannon to fire a shot at the device, causing it to short circuit before finally shutting down. Without another word, he began to walk off, and Shockwave followed.

After a minute in silence, Megatron glanced back at the scientist for a moment.

"I... don't care as much as Starscream does, but I'm nonetheless curious. Soundwave told me what you sent him..."

"... Why did he tell you this?"

"He was upset. He thought you died."

"At the time of sending that, I thought I was going to die. That message manifested from desperation and pain, so it was only true at the time I sent it."

"That sounds more like you."

"I'm... not ashamed of anything, or trying to hide it, but I don't possess the same emotions that Soundwave does, and I therefore resent any implications to the contrary."

"Like I said, I don't care like Starscream does."

Shockwave went silent for a moment, staring idly down at the floor, barely thinking as he spoke again.

"But you should know that I'm carrying, and currently have no method or intention of terminating it."

Megatron actually stopped in his tracks, turning around to stare at Shockwave with a blank expression. He looked as though he was going to say something for a moment, but decided not to, and so the scientist spoke again.

"... No part of this was intentional, but it is currently the only reason I am alive."

Megatron looked away for a moment, then finally turned back to Shockwave as he spoke rather quietly.

"Do  _ not  _ tell Starscream about this."

"Everyone will eventually find out."

The gladiator held up a hand.

"I'm not going there. That is... indeed significant, and that needed to come up sooner or later, but..."

He trailed off, and rather than finishing that sentence, he continued walking, soon shifting the topic.

"As I said, Soundwave turned quite violent from his corruption, and started being able to move energon with his mind, so we were forced to basically treat him as a prisoner. I hate seeing him like this..."

With that, he opened a door, leading into the room wherein Soundwave hung by his arms, suspended above the floor. He was clearly conscious, as evidenced by his twisting slightly back and forth in an idle motion, but his head hung down, and he didn't bother looking up until Shockwave started to walk toward him.

Soundwave clearly recognized the sound of his footsteps, and stopped his twisting when he heard it, raising his head to look toward him.

"Shockwave?"

The scientist stopped some distance from Soundwave and looked up at him, considering he, like most everyone on the ship, hadn't heard Soundwave's voice in ages. He stayed silent, and Soundwave spoke again.

"You're... alive? You're alive! I thought you were dead!"

Without a word, Shockwave began collecting his equipment, including a small syringe filled with dark energon. Soundwave's voice turned quieter as he watched.

"What happened to you? How'd you come back?"

Shockwave continued idly preparing a few other small devices, and Soundwave swung his weight forward some, trying to get his attention by the sound of the chains that suspended him.

"Shockwave?"

The scientist finally stood up, attaching a monitor to the side of Soundwave's arm, all while avoiding eye contact. Soundwave seemed to grow increasingly distraught, trying to recoil from Shockwave's touches, as his voice became audibly upset.

"Shockwave!"

Finally, the scientist took his syringe and injected Soundwave with its contents, stepping back after a moment. It took only a few seconds for Soundwave to seize up, but that was a side effect of dark energon exposure. What he did not expect, however, was for Soundwave to begin writhing in pain, clearly struggling to breathe. Before Shockwave could react, Soundwave threw out his one usable cable, latching onto the scientist and pulling him, finally catching enough of a breath to begin  _ screaming  _ at him.

_ "Shockwave!! What are you doing!? Look at me!!" _

The scientist only looked toward him for as long as it took to raise his left arm and fire a shot into his face, releasing him from Soundwave's grasp. Without any further acknowledgement, he turned away and started to walk out of the room, prompting Soundwave to continue screaming at him until his voice soon began to crack from the stress. Shockwave looked toward Megatron, and without another word they left the room, leaving Soundwave in isolation once more.

The gladiator seemed disturbed, looking off into the distance with a concerned expression.

"How long should this take?"

"Several hours."

"... I'm sorry you had to witness that."

Shockwave looked over toward Megatron.

"I've seen worse."

With that, he started off to return to his lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think Shockwave being carried by an insecticon is weird, I'd like to point out that in TFP when the decepticons are on antarctica and the autobots are about to fight Shockwave, Predaking breaks through the ceiling in dragon form and grabs Shockwave's entire body in one hand before flying away. Watch it, it's both adorable and hilarious.
> 
> I haven't actually watched any of the show in forever so I'm starting to forget some of the minutia of Megatron's character.


	27. The Purge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter puts the word count at over 100k, which... holy shit.

Soundwave had struggled for some time, fighting to possibly break out of his restraints, but whatever Shockwave had injected him with was beyond his control. It felt like liquid fire, burning through his veins, searing every nerve in his body. He writhed in agony, unable to escape, and yet Shockwave had looked right at him, and had walked away.

This wasn't a delusion,  _ everyone _ was turning against him now. For no other reason than his enlightenment, he'd been imprisoned in quarantine, attacked by Megatron, stabbed by Starscream...  _ some _ how... and now was being tortured by Shockwave.

He hung motionless, trying to ignore the pain that consumed him, his voice reduced to nothing but quiet whimpers, having screamed so much at Shockwave that it had started to damage his underused voice. How could he do this? How could Shockwave face him, see how Megatron had treated him, and say nothing? How could he leave him here in this torment, and walk away without a second thought?

It seemed Shockwave had never really loved him to begin with. It was his psychopathy that had allowed him to perform what horrible experiments he'd done in the past, and it was precisely that lack of empathy that had allowed him to leave Soundwave like this... imprisoned and tortured, kept in isolation out of fear.

Shockwave had  _ lied  _ to him.

He struggled against his binds again, hoping he could wind his slender hands from the restraints holding his arms, but they were magnetic as well as securely attached. He still had one cable he could use, but he trembled from energon deprivation, knowing his strength was essentially negligible.

His mind churned, raging thoughts spinning in confusion at how everyone he knew could so suddenly turn against him. His crew... what had they done to the rest of the crew? Megatron could keep Soundwave hostage, but he had neither the resources or the patience to so completely torment all the augmented crew.

All the while, Soundwave could feel somewhere in the back of his mind a type of presence, watching him, empathizing with him. It seemed as though it tried to speak, but was so distant that nothing came through except a sense of comfort. This, however, was soon overtaken by the searing pain of whatever poison Shockwave had used on him, and purely on impulse, Soundwave again twisted and pulled at his restraints, desperately wishing for freedom.

He wasn't sure of how much time had passed until the door opened once more, and he looked up to find Shockwave again walking toward him. He remained silent this time, just staring at the scientist, forcing every little bit of hatred he had into his weakened aura. He wanted to scream again, to grab Shockwave's head, to  _ force _ him to look at what he was doing.

Shockwave stopped to stare at him for a moment, finally speaking after a moment.

"I can give you something for the pain. But if you attack me again, I'll be forced to shoot you again."

The fact that the scientist was threatening him while he was already restrained... Soundwave rocked his weight forward, sending the sound of chains echoing through the room as he stared into Shockwave's eye and yelled.

"Why are you  _ doing  _ this!?  _ How _ are you doing this!? You said you  _ loved _ me!"

"Not like this."

"What is that supposed to mean!? Nothing's changed except now Megatron's afraid of me!"

"You rallied a quarter of the ship to attempt to overthrow him."

_ "He wants to keep me imprisoned! It's wrong!" _

Shockwave seemed to ignore him, finally approaching and, with little hesitation, placing a small device to the side of one arm. After a second, it let out a quiet hiss, and he removed it. Almost immediately, the burning pain that had consumed Soundwave began to wane, leaving him all but numb to his surroundings. His mind began to drift, no longer distracted by agony, and his body finally began to relax, at least as much as was possible while restrained. He looked back up at Shockwave, his voice turning quiet, his mind beginning to churn.

"Why? Why does Megatron hate me now?"

"He does not hate you. But the phazon that's corrupted you-"

"It's not corruption."

"-Has the capacity to alter perception and personality."

"It's  _ not _ corruption."

"Why are you speaking with your real voice?"

"It's  _ not corruption-! _ "

Soundwave finally let his head hang down, finding himself almost weaker than he was before. Still, he'd rather be unable to move than go back to the pain he was in before... He looked up, finding Shockwave backing slowly away from him, almost as though waiting for some kind of response. But he remained silent as he turned around and walked away, leaving Soundwave in a more tranquil state than he'd been before.

Whatever the scientist had given him must have been a mild sedative as well, because even as the anger he held toward everyone still lingered, it, too, was numbed. The best question to ask himself, then, was  _ why _ he was so furious.

Yes, Megatron had treated him horribly, and fought against his augmentation, but on the other hand... he had reason to be afraid. Soundwave was already quite powerful before being augmented, and now it had given him abilities he didn't even know were possible. In that respect, Megatron was just being cautious. Maybe Soundwave had overreacted too.

But the quiet presence in the back of his mind still lingered, pressing upon him the thought that it was pure ignorance to fight against something so powerful. This augmentation had healed him of his damage, enlightened him to the universal presence of phazon, and...

Phazon? Shockwave had used the word, but somehow Soundwave already knew what it meant, even though he'd never heard it before. Just like he intuitively knew that Sanctum, or rather Phaaze, was composed of it, that Dark Samus controlled all phazon, and that a leviathan was currently heading toward Aether.

... This planet was named Aether?

Soundwave shook his head, unsure of whether any of this was real or just some strange drug-induced waking dream.

But of course a leviathan was heading here. The previous one had failed. But what did any of that mean!? If this was enlightenment, it was  _ seriously _ confusing.

Maybe Ratchet had been right to quarantine him. Maybe he  _ was  _ going insane.

But that's not it. It's just your link to the phazon fading away. They're trying to purge you.

... _ What!? _

Even without antiphazon, they still managed to do it somehow. I'm kind of impressed, actually.

 

Soundwave started glancing around the room, trying to hold onto reality, hoping for some indication that someone he knew was just sending him odd messages rather than this being an imagined presence.

 

Oh, I'm not imagined. I'm sorry to scare you like that. I'd show up myself, but I think whatever Shockwave injected you with is interfering with my ability to locate you.

 

Who... was this person? How did it know who Shockwave-

 

I'm in your head, stupid. Not literally, but I am in all phazon, so in a way you contain a piece of me. I am the aforementioned Dark Samus. I've become... quite interested in these events here. First off, you're a new species, and a bizarre one at that. You've also handled this infusion very well, I might add. Now, I know the people around you are trying to purge the phazon from your system, and it seems to be working. But don't worry. It won't kill you to be purged, and you can always come back. I'll be eagerly awaiting your return.

 

Soundwave shook his head again, the fog of confusion shrouding his mind screaming only one question: was any of this even real?

 

Of  _ course _ this is real! How else do you think I'm able to respond in real time to your thoughts!?

 

He suddenly wanted nothing more than to fall asleep just to escape all this chaos, or to wake up to find it was all a dream.

 

You're awfully stubborn, aren't you? Fine, I'll leave you be. But remember this, Soundwave. You  _ will  _ come back to me. You might not believe it, but it's inevitable. You'll likely be purged and return to your weakened state, thinking you went insane this whole time. You'll try to dismiss my words as delusional fantasies conjured by your confused mind. You'll go about your life, trying to forget all this.

But in time, whether it be days, or weeks, or years or decades, it will all catch up to you. No mortal can taste phazon's power, feel it in their veins, and then go the rest of their life without it. No one can resist the allure of augmentation like you've experienced. Everyone lies to themselves, thinking they have a strong enough will to resist, but it's idiotic. The reason they all give in to the lust for phazon is the same; life without it is no life at all. You, too, will eventually realize this. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.

 

And just like that, the presence that had occupied his mind faded, leaving Soundwave alone in the dark chamber, replaying every word she'd said over again in his mind. Dark Samus herself had just spoken directly to him... it should have seemed an honor to be contacted by someone who was basically a god... and yet he also felt horrified. Either he was unintentionally transmitting his thoughts halfway across the galaxy to a person he'd never seen, or this was an incredibly confusing delusion that insisted it wasn't, and Soundwave wasn't sure which one was more unnerving.

Fortunately, the effects of whatever Shockwave had given him started to accumulate, and he managed to slip into some state between wakefulness and sleep. At least, that's what it felt like. His mind recalled the events of the past few days over again, though this time it felt sterilized, like he was watching through someone else's eyes. It seemed foreign now, remembering his own thoughts even though they no longer made any sense.

Why had he been so violent? He was still mad at Megatron for how he'd been treated, but now his rebellion seemed like it had been an overreaction.

Maybe...

 

The sound of the door opening jolted him awake, and once again, Shockwave walked toward him, considering a couple hours had passed since last time. The scientist looked frightening now, staring straight at him with his unflinching gaze, his aura suppressed to the point of nonexistence. As he approached, Soundwave turned his head away, closing his eyes. A bit of Shockwave's aura prodded at his, seeming curious.

"How do you feel?"

For once, Soundwave had nothing to say. Regret surged through his mind, rendering him unable to even look at the scientist.

Why had he screamed at him? Why had he been so violent? He  _ knew  _ it was because Shockwave had been so soulless, refusing to look at him, but that didn't warrant any of the things he'd just done.

For being augmentation, phazon had certainly robbed him of his civility...

Shockwave reached up, tilting Soundwave's head to look at him.

"I would rather not remove your mask to assess your responsiveness."

He stared into the scientist's eye, and all emotion suddenly crashed down on him. It flooded his aura, feelings of remorse and shame and confusion... Soundwave stared at him, finally realizing that Shockwave  _ was  _ alive, that he  _ was  _ here, and that he  _ did  _ love him. And yet, Soundwave had greeted his return with uncontrolled rage, powered by the very poison he'd believed was augmenting him.

He began to tremble, lost in his thoughts, wanting nothing more than for Shockwave to walk away and leave him to rot in the torment he deserved.

The scientist reached for the monitor device he'd attached to his arm, finally removing it before looking back at Soundwave once more.

"I need a response."

[I'm sorry...]

It was all he could muster. Soundwave hung there, his body limp, his eyes shut, his mind tortured by what he knew he'd done. But rather than walking away as expected, Shockwave remained, the quiet, calm presence of his aura shifting as, suddenly, Soundwave was lowered to the floor. As soon as his legs touched the cold floor, the pressure on his arms faded away, and the spots where his binds had held him were suddenly overcome with relief. He slumped to the floor as he was lowered, making no effort to move, even as Shockwave started to remove his binds.

Finally, he reluctantly opened his eyes, turning his head to find Shockwave kneeling beside him, and reached out toward him with one hand, given that his whole body ached with exhaustion. The reaction he did not expect, however, was for Shockwave to grab him, gently pulling him up into an embrace. Though his aura remained subdued, the way he trembled ever so slightly was a message in itself, one that needed no words. Soundwave rested his head on the scientist's shoulder and closed his eyes again, overwhelmed by a mix of emotions. He wanted to push Shockwave away, to retreat to his prison once more so he could maybe suffer a punishment befitting the unforgivable crime of treason... and yet he'd dreamt of this the whole time. Ever since he realized Shockwave was missing, he'd desperately wished for just  _ one  _ more opportunity to surround himself in the scientist's naturally calming aura, to feel that grounding presence beside him. He wanted to ask Shockwave about the message he'd sent, what had happened to him, and yet words escaped him. He could only think of one thing to say.

[I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...]

When Shockwave replied, it was almost a whisper, quiet and deliberate, so close to him and so soothing it gave him chills.

"There is no logical need to apologize."

Finally, Shockwave got to his feet, lifting Soundwave up off the floor, holding him in his arms and carrying him out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First... this was kind of a chapter I'd wanted to do forever ago (a slow shift in Soundwave's mind) but lost the opportunity to do so... until I finally realized I could here, so... yay.
> 
> Second: Dark Samus is definitely Metroid canon, but she has no dialog in any games. My portrayal of her, in essence, comes from eight years of writing as her in a writing group roleplaying thing. I will not include any group-specific original material here to avoid massive confusion, but I will adhere to my version of her personality.
> 
> Third: I actually did not expect any DS dialog here. I was about as confused by it as Soundwave.


	28. The Hour of Twilight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three words... fuck carpal tunnel. I did a bit too much crochet and wore out my left hand so I started typing with my right and now both my hands are weak and terrible. I know I shouldn't be typing, but I spent a couple hours finishing this chapter on my phone because I love you all and you deserve more chapters. There might not be anything for a while though.
> 
> I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out that I started writing this story on February 5th last year. The very first paragraph was actually sort of fueled by my feelings about politics. Then it went from there.  
> (Almost) a year later, I'm still flabbergasted at how much I've actually managed to write, and how much positive feedback I've gotten. I've never written anything this huge before. It's been the comments that have made this all worth it though
> 
> (There's two different one handed dvorak keyboard layouts that I only know about because I use dvorak instead of qwerty. I'm Samus if I type with my left hand, I'm Shockwave if I type with my right.)

Shockwave carried Soundwave back to his lab, resting him gently on one of the tables and administering a slow infusion of energon, as well as a few other tests. Soundwave lacked the energy to protest his care, nor could he bring himself to ask the scientist what had happened to him. Fortunately, Shockwave divulged those answers anyway, sitting across the room and talking for some time about the luminoth and U-Mos and A-Scl. It seemed the episode with the Amorbis worm was the reason for an insecticon being in intensive care in the other room.

But Soundwave remained silent the whole time, just listening. It was not so much that Shockwave's exploits weren't interesting, but rather, he still couldn't bring himself to face him. Shockwave, too, eventually went silent, and the two just stared away from each other for a while, outside of the influence of each other's auras, one unable to leave the room, the other unwilling.

But Shockwave seemed uncomfortable somehow, and Soundwave finally looked up, if only to watch his tense posture. He kept his gun close to him, tracing his fingers across one of the seams, presumably to feel the clicking as they dipped into the metal seam and kept going. The scientist finally met his stare, knowing well that Soundwave could see his apprehension. He still seemed to hesitate before finally, he broke the silence.

"There is... one detail I neglected to mention."

Soundwave remained silent, naturally, and Shockwave looked away from him.

"I would have died on that planet were I not carrying."

Soundwave tilted his head slightly, uncertain of the significance of that. The scientist hesitated for another moment, until finally he looked up at Soundwave.

"So I'm keeping it."

[... What? Why?  _ Why!? _ ]

That had been the first message Soundwave had sent to him in nearly an hour, and Shockwave seemed to almost turn offended by it. The antennae beside his head twitched slightly, his posture growing stiff. His voice turned to his normal tone, the kind of tone he would use when speaking to anyone else, as opposed to the softer, less harsh voice he used with Soundwave.

"It saved my life, and so I feel that terminating it now would be highly immoral."

[That's not the point though. You... know what that entails, right? I am _not_ a suitable parent, and logically speaking, neither are you.]

"That is true, but the fact remains that I owe my life to this being. The least I can do now is to not terminate it."

Soundwave looked away, letting this process for a second.

[That seems like an awfully impactful decision to make on the basis of abstract morals...]

Shockwave stepped toward him, grabbing one of his hands to place it on his abdomen. He suppressed his aura, retracting its influence to where Soundwave could start to feel the presence of a  _ second  _ spark. Its aura was primitive, seeming more like confusing static, but it was considerably different from Shockwave's.

Soundwave froze, and the scientist let go of his hand, which he slowly pulled back toward himself. Shockwave stared down at him, his apathetic aura returning to its regular strength, and he spoke.

"It's a perpetual distraction now."

Soundwave still stared off into the distance, his mind trying to grasp what just happened.

That was his child. One he never wanted, but was going to have anyway.

He looked up at Shockwave finally, trying to find the right words.

[How do you remember to breathe with that kind of distraction?]

The scientist's aura suddenly became ever so slightly amused.

"Fortunately that's an autonomic process. Everything else is made slightly more difficult as a result."

[Honestly, you crash landed, got stabbed, were shot several times, and attacked by a giant sand worm... how is that thing still alive?]

"The universal forces of irony dictate that the very thing I want least must inevitably come to pass. As such, it seems I could not kill her if I tried."

Soundwave stared blankly at him, considering he just used a pronoun. Shockwave seemed to realize this as well, staring back for a moment before abruptly turning away, looking toward his terminal, presumably trying to focus on something other than what he just said.

"If you feel strong enough to walk, I will let you leave."

[Oh, sure, you want to kick me out after that.]

"I must develop a synthetic dark energon substitute before the crew on the Apex Sirion begin to suffer stasis lock. And as you can imagine, I am sufficiently distracted already without your presence."

[What about the Leviathan?]

Shockwave raised his head and turned around to look at Soundwave.

"... What?"

[I don't know, some phazon delusion. I don't know why I brought it up, to be honest. Something about a Leviathan headed toward Aether, but I don't really even know what that means.]

Shockwave's aura turned  _ very  _ concerned suddenly.

"It means U-Mos was right..."

[What?]

The scientist turned back to his console, pulling up mostly black images of scans around the ship, soon focusing on one scan with a discernible anomaly; namely, a blue smudge in the center of the image. Soundwave looked at it, staring at it from across the room.

[Is that the Leviathan?]

"We have to destroy it."

[An entire meteor!?]

"The luminoth nearly went extinct from the first Leviathan that impacted Aether, and they fear they will be annihilated by a second. They have no means of preventing its landfall. I told them I would destroy one if it came."

[Shouldn't Megatron be making that decision?]

"True."

He opened a comm channel after a second.

"Lord Megat-"

Before he could finish the word, the lab doors opened, and Megatron stood on the other side, momentarily seeming confused, glancing between Soundwave and Shockwave a few times.

"Well, that was strange," he said. "I just came to see Soundwave. What is it?"

The scientist turned to face Megatron, standing beside Soundwave as he sat upright on his table.

"There is a meteor on course to impact Aether, that, if it makes landfall, will corrupt all organisms that live there with phazon, inevitably destroying the luminoth in the process. In speaking with U-Mos, I told him I would do what I could to destroy the meteor if it came."

Megatron raised his head slightly, looking down at Shockwave.

"I don't like the prospect of you making diplomatic decisions in my absence, but I cannot disagree with your logic, nor can I fault you for it. What would it take to destroy this meteor?"

"I am uncertain. I also have reason to believe the Space Pirates will defend the Leviathan."

Megatron's eyes widened slightly as he locked his stare onto the scientist, muttering with concern.

"You want to throw us into another battle?"

"I can logically presume that the luminoth would be more than willing to assist us."

"Let  _ me  _ speak with them, Shockwave, and I will determine what is logical here."

The scientist bowed his head slightly.

"Of course, master."

Megatron glanced between him and Soundwave, standing in awkward silence for a moment before Shockwave caught the meaning therein and retreated into the next room. The gladiator looked down at Soundwave, his expression calm and comforting.

"Even if you were corrupted, you still fought well."

Soundwave smiled a bit behind his mask, knowing that was a genuine compliment, one that Megatron did not grant freely. Still, he didn't look directly at the gladiator, and Megatron knew exactly why.

"You did not betray me, Soundwave. You were influenced by phazon, and I do not blame you for anything you did."

[I knew exactly what I was doing.]

"Maybe at the time, you thought you knew."

Soundwave, in turn, played a recording of himself.

["You know... I've never been on the same side as you about rebelling against Megatron... and now that I am, I'm questioning my own judgement."]

"Soundwave..."

[I knew what I was doing. I still... understand those motives, I just went too far with it. That means I had and still have the capacity for treachery.]

Megatron grabbed either side of Soundwave's head, staring at him for a second before kneeling down beside him to place himself at an equal height. Still holding onto him, he let out a quiet sigh.

"Soundwave... shut up."

The gladiator let his fingers brush gently across the sides of Soundwave's face as he stared away.

"There's no point in telling you that you blame yourself too often, since I've said it before and I know it won't change anything. But you're being an idiot."

Soundwave laughed slightly, closing his eyes to focus on the gentle touches to his head and neck, raising his own hand to hold gently onto the gladiator's arm. His relationship with Megatron had always been strange, containing much of the physical aspects of a romantic one, yet staying firmly in a context of unwavering devotion. But it was almost entirely secretive; no one else witnessed these moments. Or at least, that was the intention. 

The door opened, and Knockout walked in, idly glancing at a datapad in his hand. In little more than a second, Megatron stood up, his aura shifting to a sort of forceful neutrality, emanating solidity, or stability, and glanced toward the medic as he looked up, not having seen what had been occurring, but definitely noticing Megatron trying to hide what had. As such, Knockout recoiled slightly from both his and Soundwave's stares, his large eyes reflecting some of the light in the room.

All vanity aside, Primus be damned if Knockout didn't still have a remarkably pretty face.

"I didn't... interrupt anything, did I?" he hesitantly asked. "I was just going to ask Shockwave about..."

Megatron pointed toward the door Shockwave had left through, and the medic shuffled away, making sure to close the door behind him. His conversation with Shockwave on the other side was barely audible; enough to hear that they were speaking, but not enough to discern any of the details. Megatron looked down at Soundwave again, seeming to lose himself in thought staring into the depths of his visor. As he finally realized this after a minute, however, he looked away for a moment, smiling faintly as he glanced back at Soundwave, placing a hand to his shoulder and letting it drift away as he started to walk off.

In the silence, Soundwave began doing whatever work he could do remotely, though mostly that just involved catching up on reports. Knockout and Shockwave still talked in the other room, though it seemed to turn slightly hostile. He looked up as the door opened and Shockwave walked out, followed closely by Knockout. The medic sounded almost pleading as he spoke.

"Wait, wait, why?"

Shockwave's voice was slightly annoyed, from what Soundwave could tell.

"Because it interferes with a variety of subsystems. There are many other equivalents that are more targeted to the context you need. Psychrofluorine is a bit primitive."

"Primitive...?"

"Just use a subdrylene  _ without  _ a coagulant."

"Yeah yeah, I'm not an idiot. What's your  _ problem _ with psychrofluorine?"

"It's primitive. It works better for insecticons but it should not be the default."

"So in this context it's fine, but you still don't like it?"

Shockwave had no response, instead seeming to return to his work. Knockout rolled his eyes, a gesture that was not visible to the scientist, but was definitely visible to Soundwave.

"Ugh, whatever," Knockout muttered before walking away.

 

Once Shockwave had finished his task, he, too, left without another word, and Soundwave continued to rest in the peaceful solitude of the lab. In time, he regained the strength to walk out, and found that the scientist had returned to the planet's surface once more for the purposes of setting up a negotiation. And soon, he found himself on the admittedly run-down bridge, standing beside Megatron, Starscream, and everyone else who regularly attended the meetings. Steelwing, Railgun, Knockout, and the insecticon lingered toward the other side of the room. Ratchet would have been included were he not stuck on the Apex. Soundwave stood waiting for the groundbridge order from Shockwave, glancing at Starscream, who stared down at the floor, seeming anxious. His wings drooped back, and he crossed his arms, holding them close to his body. Soundwave seemed to catch his attention with his stare, and the seeker looked over at him, his eyes staring quite intensely at his visor. Soundwave relaxed, turning his aura from his normal professional default into one of comfort, and after a moment, Starscream looked away, still holding his same posture, but easing some of the tension he harbored. Just then, he finally received the ping from Shockwave, and a groundbridge portal came to life in the center of the room a moment later.

Shockwave was the first to step through, walking over toward Soundwave and turning to face the portal. A few moments went by, and finally four luminoth stepped through, each wearing differing styles of armor. The first luminoth wore thin, sleek silver armor adorned with gold lights. The second to come through had similar armor, but it seemed more angular, adorned with crystals on the shoulders that seemed to give off rainbow light. The other two luminoth had much bulkier armor, dark grey in color with large shoulders and forearms. One of them had amber colored accents, the other blue. The first luminoth stepped forward past the other three, and Soundwave shut the portal down. The luminoth held a hand to his chest and bowed.

"I am U-Mos, Sentinel of Aether. These three are sentinels of our regions. R-Mir of Agon, X-Var of Torvus, I-Kul of Sanctuary Fortress. I have already met Shockwave, of course."

He looked around, speaking again after a second.

"I see the Pirates were not kind to you."

Megatron stepped forward, holding his hands behind him.

"They were not. I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons."

He gestured to the others.

"Starscream, my second in command. Soundwave, my third, in charge of communications and transportation. Shockwave is... the reason decepticon science has a reputation. I wish our ship were more presentable."

U-Mos looked around again, then lifted himself off of the floor, letting his legs dangle below him, much to Megatron's surprise. The gladiator's expression didn't change much, but he looked back toward Shockwave for a brief moment, only turning back to U-Mos when he spoke.

"All formalities aside, we find ourselves in dire need of your help. As Shockwave has informed you, there is a Leviathan heading toward Aether, likely guarded by a fleet of Pirates. Those ships that attacked you were most likely scouting the site, sending troops to reinhabit the bases they built here. The invasion we could handle on our own, but we have no way of stopping a Leviathan. We would not ask you to do this for nothing, of course. We are prepared to grant you weapons capable of destroying it."

Starscream couldn't help himself.

"What kind of weapons?"

"Antimatter beam technology."

The seeker's eyes went wide, as did Megatron's. Even Shockwave seemed incredibly surprised by this, but it was the gladiator who spoke.

"You... have antimatter weaponry?"

U-Mos tilted his head.

"You can generate wormholes, and you don't have antimatter technology? Nevermind. Yes, we're willing to help you in any way we can, if you can destroy the Leviathan that looms above us."

Megatron turned toward Shockwave.

"How far away is it?"

"About twelve hours."

The gladiator looked back at U-Mos, his gaze shifting occasionally as he thought.

"Why should we do this? Our ships are barely holding together, due to the previous attacks we've suffered."

U-Mos glanced back toward R-Mir for a moment. When he turned to Megatron, he let out a sigh.

"We wish you hadn't become involved in our affairs... we try to stay out of the politics of other races, and we have only bestowed our technology upon one other individual. But we find ourselves in need, and you have most likely become a target of the Pirates. They know you're here now, and if your troops have been corrupted, so does Dark Samus."

The name caused Soundwave's spark to twist upon itself, cringing in terror. His aura suddenly burned with fear and sickness, and Megatron, Starscream, and Shockwave all turned to look at him as a result. It took Soundwave a moment to gather his thoughts, sending a message to all three of them.

[She spoke to me. She...  _ invaded _ my mind, and spoke to me.]

Starscream seemed stunned, his aura almost containing traces of... pity? That wasn't right.

Megatron seemed skeptical, his eyes narrowing somewhat.

"Dark Samus? What did she say?"

[Just that... I'll... go back to being corrupted eventually.]

"... Hm."

He still seemed skeptical, but turned back to look at U-Mos.

"Soundwave doesn't speak."

Starscream muttered under his breath, just barely loud enough to hear.

_ "It's a shame, too..." _

Soundwave turned to stare at him. The seeker looked over, slowly realizing he'd heard him, and promptly averted his gaze, his wings sinking back as he moved ever so slightly away. Even Megatron noticed the exchange, though he ignored it as he looked back at the luminoth.

"So you're saying the Pirates will attack us regardless of what we do?"

"I'm afraid so," U-Mos said. "I hate to say this, but you may not have a choice. If you help us, they may at least retreat for a time, but if you leave, they will surely hunt you down."

Megatron let out a dismayed sigh.

"I don't like being cornered. But I suppose I have no choice. Help us prepare our ships, and we will help defend you."

All four luminoth bowed to him, mostly in unison. Finally, U-Mos spoke again.

"So it will be done. You will not be alone. I do not like violence, but the Pirates threaten our world, and so their ships shall burn under the Light of Aether."

Shockwave responded, his aura curious.

"Every luminoth I have spoken to has invoked the Light of Aether. What does it mean?"

"It is both the literal manifestation of our planetary energy, and the metaphorical idea of Aether's spirit."

"Why light?"

"We're moths."

Megatron, seeming to ignore this exchange, spoke once more.

"We will need a better way to communicate with you."

"Yes, I-Kul can give you access to our satellites. I must return to get our troops ready, but I'll send a team of engineers here to install an antimatter gun if we can."

He looked over at Shockwave as he continued.

"A-Scl will be quite happy to see you again."

The scientist nodded slightly, and U-Mos looked toward Soundwave.

"Are you the one in charge of portals?"

Within seconds, a groundbridge appeared behind U-Mos, and he glanced over at it for a second.

"Thank you."

He turned to leave, but was stopped by Shockwave.

"Sentinel..."

U-Mos looked back toward him, and the scientist hesitated, glancing down at the floor for a moment. But finally, he looked up and spoke.

"May the Light of Aether... light our darkest hour."

U-Mos raised his hands up above him, and soon they became enveloped in fleeting particles of light that drifted down like snow before fading.

_ "So shall it be." _

With that, U-Mos and two of the others either floated or walked through the portal, leaving I-Kul to stand there awkwardly, left alone surrounded by decepticons. The silence was broken, however, when Starscream turned to look toward Shockwave.

"What the... did you just reference the Covenant of Primus? What the hell kind of incantation  _ was  _ that?"

Shockwave stood there silently as Megatron responded instead, speaking to Starscream but staring at the scientist.

"'Yea, and the leviathan would rise from the sea, and its fury would be like unto the Inferno itself.'"

The seeker spun to face Megatron, holding his hands out as he looked up at the gladiator.

_ "Really!?" _

The one insecticon in the room stepped forward.

"Our Oracle once foretold such a thing. 'Seek sanctuary', she said, 'when fire rains down from the sky to smite thee. Darkness shall come to consume thee, but let not thy fear be her fuel.'"

Starscream rolled his eyes.

"So we're  _ all  _ quoting things now."

Soundwave responded in turn, quoting Megatron.

["Prophecy is a strange thing. Its message is only clear once it has ceased being useful."]

Starscream crossed his arms, resting his weight on one leg.

"You don't count."

Megatron looked down at I-Kul finally.

"I apologize for that. Soundwave can help you with communication."

Soundwave glanced at the luminoth, then back toward the gladiator.

["Soundwave doesn't speak."]

"Are you really that helpless?"

He remained silent, and Megatron growled slightly, more like an annoyed groan than anything else.

"Figure it out. It was your choice anyway."

Soundwave nodded reluctantly toward him, then looked back toward the luminoth who'd been silent the whole time.

Megatron stepped forward, addressing the other decepticons who lingered on the bridge.

"Go now, ready every weapon we have. Today we gain an ally, but tomorrow... we go to war."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Soundwave and Megatron are adorable.  
> 2\. I have some images in my head that I'm forced to write even if they're largely irrelevant. Knockout and Shockwave arguing about psychrofluorine was one of those images.  
> 3\. When Shockwave mentioned 'darkest hour' I looked up the term to make sure it actually had to do with the Covenant of Primus. In the process, I found that there's actually a canon quote mentioning a leviathan, so that was too perfect not to include.  
> 4\. I could just make up lots of random quotes for Soundwave to quote, but I prefer, if possible, using only quotes I know from Prime (of which I have a Soundwave-level memory) or somewhere else in this story. I sat there for the longest time trying to think of something cool for him, but I couldn't. Then I end up almost unintentionally writing the coolest Megatron quote thus far.


	29. Twelve Hours

The next few hours were dizzying. Soundwave tried not to think too much about the countdown timer lurking in the corner of every display screen around him as he reprogrammed the communications relay to interact with the luminoth satellites. I-Kul was quiet as well, but fortunately she explained the necessary adjustments well enough that Soundwave hardly had to speak to her. All the while, troops scurried about around him, doing repairs as frantically as they could. Several luminoth also lurked around the ship, presumably to try and install the weapons they'd promised, though Soundwave tried not to focus on them too much either, instead retreating back to the lab for a moment once his adjustments were completed. He lingered in his corner of the room, staring over at one of the terminals, just letting everything process, when a sound caught his attention, and he walked out of the room again, trying to find the source. He heard a door close nearby, and stepped up to it, finding it lead to an unused storage room. He opened it, finding Starscream in one corner, having been looking up at the ceiling when Soundwave walked in. Upon seeing him, the seeker seemed to panic, his wings folding back as he tried to back away from the other decepticon.

_ "Wait, please-!" _

Starscream held his hands up, almost as if trying to shield himself. The door closed behind Soundwave, and the room went silent except for Starscream's terrified voice.

"Please,  _ please,  _ just let me- I know I'm not-"

Soundwave moved forward to grab his arms, concern filling his aura.

[What are you talking about?]

Starscream started shaking, tearing his hands away from Soundwave just to practically melt into the corner.

_ "Don't look at me like that!!" _

[What?]

The seeker turned away, his feet slipping out from under him, causing him to fall to his knees. Soundwave reached toward him, only for Starscream to point his hands toward him, priming both his missiles.

_ "STOP IT! Stop it-!" _

Soundwave backed away, backing up into the other corner of the dim room, holding his hands up in surrender, looking down at Starscream. The seeker stared at him, his eyes wide with panic, his whole body tense and trembling. Finally, after a moment, his gaze shifted away and his arms relaxed, though he still stared off into the distance, seemingly trying to catch his breath. Soundwave relaxed his posture, watching as the Starscream he knew gradually returned, his eyes glancing around the room, his aura starting to come back. After a minute, the seeker finally met his gaze again and spoke, though his voice was still clearly terrified and shaky, his words spaced between desperate gasps for air.

"Don't... don't do that again. Don't touch me. That did  _ not _ help."

Soundwave wanted to move, to kneel down beside him, but given that Starscream had just threatened him, he remained frozen.

[... Help with what?]

The seeker leaned his weight back into the corner as much as he could, his wings folded back behind him, holding a hand to his head. Every time he tried to speak, he stopped himself, resulting in a string of half-formed words, prompting Soundwave to send another message.

[Can I move?]

"Ju-... Just don't touch me."

Slowly, Soundwave lowered himself to the floor, just watching Starscream trying to calm himself down. Was this a regular occurrence for him? He'd never seen the seeker quite this terrified, unless Megatron was in the midst of demonstrating his wrath. Did something happen?

After a moment, Starscream looked at him again, finally seeming more angry than scared, though it was only for a split second.

"Stop staring at me."

[Should I go?]

"Please, no-!"

In an instant, his eyes went empty, and his aura disappeared under another wave of terror. He seemed to try to back himself further into the corner, though he also reached out toward Soundwave, prompting the silent decepticon to move his weight over toward Starscream. Unsure of what to do, Soundwave reached out his hand, just offering it to the seeker. A few seconds passed, and finally Starscream grabbed his hand, though it was hesitant, forceful, and seemingly impulsive. Slowly, the seeker started to return again, just staring at his hand, his grip fading before he let go and pulled his hand back.

"You're... not... supposed to see me like this."

When his aura returned, it was dismayed, terrified, ashamed, restless, all at the same time. He still trembled, pulling his legs toward him and holding his knees to his chest. Soundwave couldn't help but stare, trying to emanate tranquility, but unable to prevent traces of sympathy from weaving their way into his aura as well.

[Did something happen?]

Starscream took a moment to gather his thoughts, refusing to look directly at Soundwave. He let out a tense sigh, and finally he spoke.

"No... N-No, I... It just... happens sometimes. Normally it goes away, but... you... ahh..."

Starscream held a hand to his head, his posture finally relaxing, if only slightly.

"You're, umm... frightening on your own."

[I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.]

The seeker didn't have much of a response as he started to finally calm down, his shaking slowly abating, his voice returning to normal. He glanced at Soundwave a few times, but it was fleeting, and he turned away, seeming to want to hide.

"I just... needed a minute. I know you didn't mean to, but you... made it worse by... cornering me like that."

In retrospect, that made sense.

[How often does this happen?]

Starscream looked away, seemingly hesitant to respond.

"It... doesn't matter."

[Starscream.]

The seeker suddenly turned to him, his aura turning to exasperation as he started yelling.

" _ Shut up!  _ It doesn't matter! Don't look at me like that! Don't patronize me!  _ Don't pity me! _ "

Soundwave leaned back slightly, caught off guard by the sudden hostility.

[I'm only making you worse. I should go-]

He started to move, only for Starscream to reach forward, grabbing onto one of his arms with a desperate-sounding cry.

_ "Please!! No! I'm sorry! I..." _

The seeker let his hand slip from Soundwave's as he threw his weight forward, collapsing face down onto the floor where he buried his head in his arms. Soundwave froze, almost more terrified at the display than Starscream was. The seeker seemed horribly restless, trying to speak and finding himself unable to. Soundwave, in turn, shifted his weight away from the seeker, trying to escape the suffocation of his overwhelming aura. Finally, Starscream just sent him a message instead.

[Primus I'm sorry... I don't want you to see this, but I don't want you to leave... I...]

Starscream curled his hands into fists, still refusing to show his face.

[I'm so alone here.]

Soundwave stared at him, uncertain how to interpret any of his words. Was this normal for Starscream? Did he suffer this torment on a daily basis? It took him a minute to figure out what to say.

[What do you need?]

Starscream tensed up, but finally started to sit upright. As he placed his hands on the floor to push himself up, Soundwave noticed drops of energon smeared on the floor as a result, and looked to find the seeker's hands bleeding slightly, most likely from his own fingers. Starscream seemed to notice this as well, but clearly he didn't care. Suddenly he looked dead inside, and stared away from Soundwave. His voice was apathetic, and haunting.

"If I knew how to answer that, I wouldn't be here, looking as pathetic as I am now."

[I want to help you, but nothing I say is helping.]

"You can't help me."

Starscream finally looked up at him, and his eyes were so... empty, lifeless, that Soundwave shivered upon meeting his gaze. The seeker looked away after another second, finally seeming to actually calm down.

"No one can."

Starscream finally stood up, prompting Soundwave to follow.

[But you weren't always like this...]

The seeker crossed his arms, his face emotionless, his eyes lifeless, staring at Soundwave with quiet judgement.

"You have no idea."

With that, he stepped past Soundwave and walked out of the room. Soundwave momentarily backed into the wall behind him, just trying to process what had happened. He'd retreated to the lab to try and ease his mind regarding the situation at hand, and it seemed as though Starscream had been doing the same thing, but now the seeker was almost more terrifying than the Pirates that lurked in the distance. He was chaotic, varying between overwhelming panic and lifeless apathy faster than Soundwave thought possible. Perhaps most disturbing was the thought that maybe Starscream had lived like this every day of his life...

 

But, with the communication systems working with the luminoth's, Soundwave started instead devoting his time to repairing and reprogramming what bugs he could find in the helm controls; and there were many. But as he worked, he occasionally spoke with Shockwave through vaguely-worded messages as the scientist worked with the luminoth to install an antimatter cannon on the Alterium.

Strangely enough, they'd had the physical device ready, and needed only to connect its control systems to the ship's; a task likely better suited to Soundwave, though Shockwave was a good enough alternative.

And in the dizzying torrent of new tasks to be completed, Megatron had also instructed the scientist to use the remaining dark energon supply and attempt to purge the crew on the Apex Sirion of their corruption. This soon manifested in a mixture of distilled dark energon being infused into the ventilation system, hopefully reaching everyone onboard and neutralizing any stray phazon that might have been spilled. It was a desperate attempt, considering Shockwave doubted it would work, but it would take time to see if it was effective.

 

Eight hours remained, and a meeting was held. Everyone in the room was clearly tired, anxious, or likely both, but Soundwave paid particular attention to Starscream. The seeker didn't seem afraid necessarily, but his posture was still tense, and he seemed shaky. Beside him was Knockout, however, who did look afraid. The medic seemed to lean toward Starscream unconsciously, but the seeker was either apathetic or oblivious to him, and thus, Knockout failed to connect with him as he usually did.

It was like... somehow, in whatever had happened to Starscream, some part of him died, or was so overwhelmed that now he ceased to function as he was. His body indicated lingering anxiety, but there was nothing in his eyes, nothing in his aura.

Steelwing, on the other hand, seemed more cold than anxious, considering he couldn't stop shivering for some reason.

When Megatron walked in, he looked impatient, practically bursting into the room, his eyes looking both determined and aggravated.

"Alright. Our main objective is to destroy the meteor heading toward Aether, but considering it's being guarded by several Pirate ships, I doubt that will be an easy task. When we engage them, I want everyone in their respective ships. We split as soon as they detect us. Understood?"

Everyone in the room gave their own forms of acknowledgement, and the gladiator turned to Starscream.

"The Voulge is the only ship of ours with a disruptor cannon. Use it."

The seeker sounded completely emotionless as he replied.

"Yes, master..."

"Is the antimatter weapon functional?"

"The controls work, but the luminoth advised us not to do any live fire tests. The projectiles are homing, and very potent."

Megatron let out an annoyed growl as he looked toward Soundwave.

"Helm controls are fully functional?"

[For the Alterium and Triad, yes. No other ships sustained damage to their bridge.]

"Good."

He glanced over at Shockwave.

"How long might the Apex take?"

"I can perform a long range scan to assess the progress, but it's still too dangerous to board right now."

"Good enough."

Megatron looked up at the rest of the room, calling on each ship's captain in turn.

"Hull integrity for the Apex?"

"Last report was 77%."

"Triad?"

[54%]

"Javelin?"

"The computer's having issues, it reports 16% but I'd put a rough estimate around 80%."

"Voulge?"

"62%."

Megatron seemed to think for a moment, then started speaking again.

"Alright. The Alterium, considering this is the one ship with an antimatter gun, will be the one focused solely on attacking the Leviathan. The Javelin will guard it. Take a few hits if you need to."

He looked down at Steelwing, holding his hands behind him, seeming content.

"Your ship is in better condition than mine. Yours is also the fastest, so use that to your advantage."

His eyes turned slightly concerned as he watched Steelwing's incessant shivering.

"What's wrong? Why are you shaking?"

"I was, uhh... doing engine repairs and got covered in liquid nitrogen."

Megatron's eyes widened slightly, but Knockout spoke before he could.

"How did you not go into shock?"

"I don't... know..."

"You need to come see me."

Megatron waved them away with one hand.

"Go. Both of you."

Without another word, both Knockout and Steelwing got up and left. Megatron turned to Starscream once more.

"The Voulge will be focused on the offensive against the Pirates. It was only due to that disruptor cannon that we survived our first fight. Use it well."

Starscream only nodded in response, and finally the gladiator turned to Soundwave, thinking for a moment.

"Follow the Voulge, but keep your distance. Work on keeping the Pirates from the surface. Support the others, but realize that your ship is the weakest of the five right now."

Soundwave gave a nod, and Megatron went silent for a moment again, starting to pace back and forth as he finally spoke.

"While the threat of falling to the surface is not as dire as it was before, many of our escape pods have already been used, and a portion of our crew remains flightless. If possible, have these people working the weapons, so that all of our fliers can utilize their individual firepower against some of the smaller ships we've been able to detect."

The gladiator turned to Shockwave again.

"If by some miracle, the crew on the Apex Sirion are successfully cured in time, I would like you to follow Soundwave's protocol. I don't expect the ship to regain full functionality any time soon, so I won't place you at any unnecessary risk. If the ship cannot be used, however, I want you to stay with it, and keep it as far from our fight as possible."

"Yes, master."

Megatron let out a clearly displeased sigh as he continued.

"Once the Leviathan is destroyed, if one of our ships is fatally damaged and falls to the surface, we  _ all _ go down with that ship. We cannot hold an invasion with just three ships, and the luminoth claim they can do so on their own. But until that meteor is destroyed, our primary objective is to destroy it. Nonetheless... I have seen far too many decepticons die in this ordeal already. I  _ don't _ want to see any more. Understood?"

Everyone gave differing forms of acknowledgement in varying degrees of enthusiasm, which is to say that everyone collectively lacked any. Megatron clearly noticed this, growing ever so slightly offended by it, from what Soundwave could tell. But, in a moment, the gladiator shifted his posture, turning his head up to look down upon everyone in the room, his broad shoulders falling slightly as his tension faded, his aura suddenly conveying power.

That was something Soundwave never understood. A person's aura was just a radiant expression of whatever emotions that person felt. Some feelings could be created and forced into one's aura, which was sometimes effective but often lacking in spark, since those feelings literally did not come from the spark. But Megatron's essence of power somehow did, which begged the question... how does one  _ feel _ power? It should have seemed obvious, since now he was able to actually experience whatever the gladiator was putting into his aura, but it still made no sense, and that was continually baffling. Power is not an emotion. Pride is, but somehow whatever Megatron did was like the opposite of pride, demanding respect and devotion from everyone around him. Most of the time, any intentionally manipulated aura was changed with the intention of making someone feel whatever you felt; that was why Soundwave so frequently emanated tranquility around Starscream. But the way Megatron managed to create a field around him that invoked a  _ different _ reaction from those who felt it was akin to sorcery, in Soundwave's mind.

But whatever sorcery he did clearly worked, as evidenced by everyone in the room subtly changing their posture, sitting upright and seeming more attentive than before. Their auras shifted to varying types of devotion; Soundwave's being toward Megatron himself, whereas the insecticon's was more similar to the pride of being part of a larger whole.

The exception to this, of course, was Starscream. The seeker shifted his posture as everyone else did, sitting forward and placing his arms on the table in front of him, but he still had no aura. Given that his was usually the most radiant in the room, Megatron glanced toward him for a split second before finally speaking.

"This will be an unusual battle, I admit, but the decepticons have survived countless battles in the past. These Space Pirates don't yet know what we're capable of... so this will be our time to show them what the decepticons can do. Drive them back to whatever corner of the galaxy they crawled out of... For every strike they made against our ships, pay them back tenfold. For  _ every _ decepticon to die at their hands, kill a  _ hundred _ of these savages.  _ Make them regret the day they laid eyes upon this world. _ "

This seemed to sufficiently energize the room, and Megatron slowly turned content.

"All of you should also rest, for a time, if you can. I know these past few days have not been easy for any of us, but at least now we have some time to prepare. I realize our ships are hardly in good condition, but they are nothing if the people flying them are not also in good condition. Dismissed."

Megatron turned to leave, but after a moment, looked back toward Starscream, eyeing him quite intently, and gestured for him to follow with a jerk of his head. The seeker hurriedly got up and made his way across the room, following Megatron closely as they both left the room. Then, and only then, did everyone else in the room start to leave. Soundwave lingered beside Shockwave, the calm aura he emitted putting his mind at ease, but after a minute, he looked up at the scientist, finding him, too, lingering in the meeting room. Soon, it was only them and the insecticon, but it was the bug who spoke first.

"Oracle, what did you need?"

Shockwave must have sent him a message. The scientist hesitated ever so slightly, and Soundwave watched him as he spoke.

"This may be a strange request, and it is by no means urgent, but I was wondering if you had any... royal energon."

Soundwave sent him alone a message.

[The stuff they give to their queen?]

Shockwave nodded toward him, but the insecticon tilted his head, sounding confused.

"We have not had a queen for some time, so we do not have any. Might I ask why you want some?"

"I could... benefit from it."

"... You wish to study it?"

"No, I intend to consume it."

"But, you are not..."

The insecticon trailed off, then tilted his head again and looked back at Shockwave.

"... Are you? You know, the Oracle is not allowed to have children..."

Shockwave's voice was as calm as ever.

"I am aware of your rules, but this decision has been made, and will not be changed. If you decide not to assist me as a result, I will understand."

The insecticon seemed to think for a moment, his pedipalps twitching every so often.

"... Very well. We cannot stop you, and we are sworn to help our Oracle. We will... start the process. After the battle. If you are still alive."

"Thank you."

Shockwave turned to leave, but the insecticon spoke again.

"Wait, maki..."

Soundwave and Shockwave both looked at him in silence, and he continued.

"... My name is Sidehopper."

After a moment, Soundwave sent a message.

[I hate to say this, but I'm not sure I could tell you apart from everyone else.]

"That is to be expected, maki."

Shockwave replied in turn, almost muttering under his breath.

"I'm grateful, at least, that your names are easier to remember than the luminoth's..."

The insecticon radiated amusement for a moment, emitting a quiet, low clicking, before finally leaving the room. Soundwave looked up at Shockwave for a moment, and the scientist met his gaze.

"... Yes?"

[I would  _ never _ have thought to ask the insecticons for that.]

"Royal energon often contains more uncommon nutrients than any regular mix."

[Isn't it sort of... insecticon specific though?]

"Not really."

A few moments went by in silence before Soundwave spoke.

[I have to go see what's wrong with the Javelin's computer.]

"I must scan the Apex Sirion."

[When you're done... come find me.]

"... Of course."

Soundwave smiled ever so slightly behind his visor before turning and walking away.

 

Seven hours remained when Shockwave, much to his amazement, discovered the dark energon infusion on the Apex Sirion to be working. It was still a slow process, but he finally gave approval for the ship to be docked with the others, though no one dared step inside yet.

 

Five hours remained, and Soundwave and Shockwave retreated to the former's quarters on the Triad, for a time just lying side by side in silence. After some time, however, Soundwave turned to face the scientist, reaching over to brush his fingers across the contours of Shockwave's head, watching as his antennae moved ever so slightly in response.

[Why did you send me that message?]

Shockwave almost seemed to laugh for a moment. Not from amusement, but rather as though the question itself was tormenting him.

"I will never be able to abstract myself from that, it seems. Even Megatron questioned my intentions, which leads me to wonder why you told him about it."

[Don't think you can deflect that question.]

The scientist let out a quiet, dismayed sound in response, though his aura was still quiet, filled with fleeting traces of delight.

"I've asked myself that same question, you realize. At the time, I was bleeding to death on an unknown world, unable to reach you, so I fully expected that to be my last opportunity to speak to you. Therefore, I could easily dismiss it as emotion-driven, and claim that it was only true when I sent it... but I also believe that... stressful situations like that drive people to the truth."

Soundwave stared into his eye, trying to watch as his mind was consumed in thought. After a moment, the light in Shockwave's eye dimmed, and he seemed to look away from Soundwave.

"... Thus I have no basis upon which to refute that message."

In response, Soundwave merely drew closer, pressing himself up against Shockwave, whose aura only seemed pensive. After a while, the scientist finally returned the gesture somewhat, placing his gun arm across Soundwave to hold him where he was. Despite the comforting nature of the situation at hand, however, both of them still clearly dwelled on the impending battle, as evidenced when Shockwave finally broke the silence again.

"If you die, I won't forgive you."

[... Nice to know you'll blame me for my own death.]

"Not for your death, but for daring to abandon me."

[I think Megatron's threatened the exact same thing.]

"Perhaps, but he would readily forgive you. On the contrary, I am  _ merciless _ ."

Soundwave radiated his amusement as he closed his eyes, just listening to Shockwave's voice, practically melting into his touch.

[You would try to pull me back out from the allspark, wouldn't you?]

"Probably."

[... You're so different now...]

Shockwave seemed slightly concerned by this, given the shift in his aura, and so Soundwave continued.

[You used to tell me this was all meaningless.]

The scientist sighed quietly before finally responding.

"It... was. At the time. But... I don't know why this is happening now, when it has not happened during all the years I've known you. You've...  _ forced  _ me to feel emotion again... you've cursed me to forever live under the delightful oppression of your allure."

Soundwave actually started laughing, pressing his face into Shockwave's chest armor.

[That is certainly the most interesting thing I have ever been accused of.]

For a minute it seemed like Shockwave was going to reply, but instead he went silent again, and both decepticons slowly started to fall asleep. Even so, Soundwave's mind drifted through everything Shockwave had told him, every word he'd spoken about how he didn't possess the capacity to care like Soundwave did...

"My spark died long ago," he had said.

And yet, here he was, now so different than before. Shockwave never had much of a personality that Soundwave could discern, but now he was starting to see it emerge, through his growing affection and his strange sense of humor.

If Shockwave's spark had died, Soundwave had somehow brought it back to life, and it was wonderful to witness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 0\. Superchapter! It feels short though.  
> 1\. This wrote itself in an unexpected fashion. I really did not plan any of this except the last two scenes. The bit with Starscream came out of nowhere.  
> 2\. I like making lists.  
> 3\. I would like to personally apologize to Starscream. I know what anxiety is like, and I'm sorry I force it on you.  
> 4\. On a related note, Soundwave tends to get my assorted weird quirks, and over the course of this story I've started to realize I'm actually slightly autistic, so... make of that what you will.  
> 5\. Steelwing and liquid nitrogen also came out of nowhere. My thinking was as follows: I should focus on someone else's posture too. Why not Steelwing? I don't focus on him enough. Let's see... he looks either very cold or very anxious. Maybe he's actually very cold. Coolant? Exposure to depressurization? No, liquid nitrogen. They have superconductors on their ship, I guess.  
> 6\. Why am I seemingly the only person who refers to these EM fields as auras?  
> 7\. Megatron gets all leadery with an inspiring message to kill lots of people.  
> 8\. What did he want with Starscream? I don't know. I honestly don't know.  
> 9\. An insecticon being named Sidehopper is admittedly clever because not only does it sound like a fitting name, it's also the name of a metroid enemy ubiquitous among the sidescrollers.  
> 10\. I did not consciously make Shockwave's personality change, but halfway through this chapter I consciously noticed it. I didn't really want him to change, but it happened on its own.  
> 11\. I read through this entire story again before writing this chapter, and I still don't get why anyone started liking it, since it only gets good once the ship takes off.  
> 12\. Please take a moment to fully grasp the fact that the past fourteen chapters have taken place over a span of about a week, maximum. The prior fifteen chapters, on the other hand, span about six months.  
> 13\. By the allspark, this is a super long end note.


	30. Steel and Energon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning: This chapter is really long.
> 
> Second, watch this at least once before you read the space battle (if you want, of course, I can't make you): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwJH_vuVDJ4  
> Last night I was kind of bored, mulling around wondering if I was going to be able to write, and then I watched that video and immediately went "oh, it's on. It's so on." So then I wrote like 3000 words in something of a trance, and I didn't once feel like my hands were getting weak.

Soundwave slowly awoke to the sounds of people outside, for a time just listening to their muffled speech, trying to figure out what they were talking about. It was then that he remembered what was going on amongst the decepticons, and checked the time.

Two hours remained.

He started to try to get up, but was promptly reminded that Shockwave laid beside him with one arm draped across him, seemingly still asleep. He reached over, starting to stroke the scientist's head as he'd done before, watching as, after a minute, Shockwave's eye started to light up, and he looked back at Soundwave. He remained silent, but moved his arm, and for a minute both decepticons just stared at each other in silence. Finally, Shockwave spoke, sounding as though he was still very tired.

"I suppose that's not... an unpleasant way to be woken up."

Soundwave finally moved away, sitting upright and letting out a quiet sigh.

[I don't think there's any length of time that will make you feel ready for this kind of fight.]

Shockwave still laid down, holding a hand to his head.

"Do not tell Lord Megatron this, but part of me resents the fact that the infusion on the Apex Sirion is working. Not for the safety of the crew, naturally, but I cannot stand being in positions of leadership."

[It's just how he shows his respect.]

"Does that mean he respects Starscream more than you?"

[If I wanted to be second in command, he would have given that title to me as soon as it was created.]

Finally, Shockwave got up, although his aura seemed mildly annoyed, and he avoided Soundwave's gaze.

"If the crew aboard the Apex Sirion are still over 20% corrupt by now, they will not be ready by the time we engage the Pirates."

Soundwave had no response, and so the scientist started to walk toward the door, only to stop and look back toward Soundwave once more.

"In any case, I hope we survive this."

Soundwave gave a slow nod in response, and Shockwave left the room.

 

Despite the deadline that now seemed imminent, the ship wasn't hectic, as Soundwave was expecting. It was certainly tense, and the air was eerily quiet, no one wanting to acknowledge the fears lurking in their minds, but everyone he passed seemed calm and composed... or at least they tried to appear that way when he passed by them. Soundwave had hardly made it back to the Alterium when Shockwave came over a comm link to him and the other ship captains.

"The dark energon has successfully purged enough of the infection that it is no longer dangerous. I will be waking the crew from stasis. The Apex Sirion will be joining this fight."

Soundwave stopped, listening as Megatron responded to him.

"Well done, Shockwave. I needed some good news."

Soundwave promptly continued walking, sending a message to Shockwave.

[I suppose I'm going to have some work to do on the computers, aren't I?]

The response was over a separate comm link, solely to him.

"That is a logical assumption."

[You could just say 'yes'.]

"I have not interacted with the computer systems aboard this ship, so I have no actual knowledge as to whether or not they're damaged. Thus I cannot make a statement of certainty, but the presumption that there is damage to be rectified is-"

[Don't say it.]

"... Most logical."

[I told you not to say it!]

"That you are opposed to my use of logic is..."

A few moments went by in silence, and finally Soundwave responded.

[Nothing I say will prevent you from saying it, I'm guessing.]

"Correct. My use of logic is, logically, logical."

[I... don't even...]

"Which, as a statement, is both tautological, and by extension, irrefutable."

[So is there work to do on the Apex or no?]

"I do not know, but I assume there is."

[ _ Thank _ you for not throwing the word 'logical' in there.]

 

Soundwave soon stepped into the halls of the Apex Sirion once more, having to take a moment to will himself to step over the threshold, considering his most recent memories of the ship. As he walked through the hallways, he found dozens of various decepticons strewn about, lying unconscious where they fell.   
_ He _ had done this to them. He was the only one responsible for the events here. At the very least, they didn't have to suffer the horrible pain of that purification like he did.

He was the only one that had deserved it.

Soundwave stepped over some of the bodies, some of whom began to twitch unconsciously, presumably as they awoke from stasis. He started to feel sick, unable to face the vehicons he'd victimized, every half-conscious moan they occasionally emitted feeling like a knife piercing his spark. He started running, bolting down the hallways, finally coming to the data core room, where he promptly locked the door behind him. After a minute of rumination, he turned to the console, and started working.

Clearly they'd disconnected the Apex Sirion's computer network from the other ships manually, presumably to keep him from accessing the groundbridge controls from there. That repair was easy enough, but it still seemed as though many of the ship's subsystems had been damaged in the first battle. Specifically, Shockwave had mentioned maneuvering thrusters, which were definitely necessary if the ship was going to fight again.

Most of the damage he could discern was software-related, which was both fortunate, since it meant it could be repaired in less time, but also quite aggravating, if only because debugging was the most soul-crushingly tedious task he could do, let alone with a countdown timer practically screaming at him from one corner of the screen. As he worked, he watched it tick away; by the minute, by the hour, by the second. Why had he slept for so long!? If he'd started earlier, this would be done by now!

Of course, Shockwave wouldn't have let him onto the Apex before now, so it seemed that was a stupid point.

But, as was inevitable, it hardly seemed like any time had passed until the countdown timer read just thirty minutes remaining. As such, Soundwave was forced to abandon his work, finally stepping out of the room and momentarily stunned by how busy the Apex suddenly was. For some reason, this was what started to make the reality of the situation sink in. Soundwave closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of a busy ship, just trying to focus on the priorities at hand. Destroy the Leviathan, keep the Pirates from the surface.

He turned to head back toward the Triad when he spotted Shockwave on the other end of the hallway, standing at one of the smaller consoles. He kept his gaze locked on the scientist as he approached, sickness and anxiety finally starting to converge on him. Hearing his footsteps, Shockwave turned to face him, soon able to feel the mix of emotions radiating from him.

For a moment, the two stood silently, just letting their auras interact; formless thoughts mixing and responding to each other without any conscious effort. In a way, their sparks spoke directly to one another. But Soundwave replayed a recording after a moment.

["If you die, I won't forgive you."]

Shockwave's aura turned to some faint enjoyment as he stared down at Soundwave, mimicking him in turn by responding silently.

[Your oppression is ceaseless.]

A global message over the speakers from Megatron cut through the air.

"All decepticons, report to your stations."

In an instant, both Soundwave and Shockwave's auras quieted, reverting to steadfast neutrality, and they stared at each other again, but this time, there was no emotion present as Soundwave saluted to the scientist, a gesture that was returned without hesitation. And finally, Soundwave started to make his way back to the Triad.

 

Something about Megatron's voice always seemed to calm him; if he was left alone to dwell on his misfortunes, he would, but as soon as the gladiator ordered him to return to his duties, everything that consumed him fell away, as though it had never been significant to begin with. Perhaps that was how Megatron felt when Soundwave massaged the back of his neck. It was... a strange correlation to make at a time like this, but both phenomena were equally strange.

As such, he stepped up to the helm of the Triad without hesitation, resting his hands on the console, watching as it came to life at his command. He turned around, facing the vehicons in the room, and he barely needed to move for the troops to all turn to face him, saluting him in unison. He sent a message across the ship a moment later.

[The role of the Triad in this fight will be support. Target the Leviathan if you can, but focus primarily on helping in the fight, and preventing any Pirate ships from reaching Aether's surface.]

The vehicons all straightened their posture in response, a show of respect that Megatron appreciated, but Soundwave didn't understand.

With merely a confident nod in response, he turned back to the console, looking through the main window toward the collection of bright dots in the distance, which he could only assume was the convoy of ships guarding the Leviathan. A few quiet moments went by, and Megatron's voice came over the speakers in a global message once more.

"Decepticons. It is with no small amount of hesitation that I ask you to join me in this fight, but it is with a similar amount of pride that I look forward to the opportunity to show the Space Pirates the superiority of the cybertronian race, and to exact revenge for what losses they've suffered us to bear. No longer should you fear the planet below us, for it has brought us an ally in the luminoth, who have granted us their strength in the hopes that we might deter the invasion that threatens their world.

Do not show fear to this enemy, for they are undeserving of it.

Do not falter, for we are not alone.

Do not show mercy, for they have already committed transgressions deserving of retribution.

Remain steadfast in adversity, and fearless in demise. Pledge your spark to the future of  _ this _ new world. Carry our sigil with humility into our darkest hour, and beyond.

These are the terms of servitude to which you have all agreed.

I expect nothing less from the decepticons."

Soundwave, glancing toward the section of the screen showing the Alterium's feed, held a hand to his chest in a quiet salute, only to look around him and find the vehicons doing the same thing. After a moment, Starscream spoke through a comm channel between the five ships.

"I have to commend you for that. I couldn't have said it better myself."

Of all people, Ratchet's voice came over the comm link next.

"I would just like to point out that I never agreed to those terms."

Megatron took an almost taunting tone as he replied, his voice alone indicative of his prideful smile.

"I am aware of that, Ratchet. But you are the exception here, and I don't intend to change my speeches to accommodate the lone autobot among us. Heheh... I knew you couldn't resist speaking up."

The autobot had no response, and so the comm went silent for some time before Megatron spoke again, this time with no inflection to his voice.

"Status, Triad."

Soundwave replied without hesitation.

[Ready.]

"Javelin."

"Ready."

"Voulge."

"Yeah."

"Apex."

"Ready."

After a moment, Megatron's voice pierced the tense, silent air, filling the whole of all five ships with his commanding presence.

_ "Erebus, engage." _

The ship lurched forward, carried by the combined power of its engines, and started to approach the Leviathan.

The meteor itself was bizarre looking; it was essentially a colossal rock form  _ covered _ in phazon, filled with it. Two long tentacles drifted behind it, giving it a strange squid-like appearance.

And beside it were dozens of Pirate ships. Collections of smaller vessels cruised alongside three of the same ship that had attacked the Erebus before; a long, slender ship with three massive curved arms to form the armature for its beam weapon.

And lurking beside the Leviathan was a behemoth almost more deserving of the title. Shrouded in dark metal, the form was difficult to see, but it was enormous. It was a relatively formless ship, looking only like a giant mass concealed behind armor panels and guns, but even the guns were intimidating in their own right, since no one had any way of knowing what they could do.

There was hardly any time to analyze the scenario, however, before several smaller ships broke away from the pack to investigate the Erebus, which promptly fired back, releasing a torrent of gunfire down upon the assailing crafts, tearing off wings and breaking glass, but seemingly leaving them mostly intact. Megatron finally yelled through the comm link.

"All ships, separate  _ now! _ "

The five ships all split apart, diverging in different directions, lining up side by side to watch as almost the  _ entire _ crowd of Pirate vessels turned to face them. The behemoth didn't, and the laser ships took some time to begin turning, but soon the ships all began to fire upon the Erebus, sending a cloud of gunfire floating toward them, delayed by the incredible distance between the two factions.

Soundwave plugged directly into the terminal with his one cable, having to take a few seconds to fully integrate into it. Fortunately, this was enough time to then send the Triad upward, arcing around the gunfire, though a few stray shots struck the hull. The Alterium seemed to go the opposite direction, swinging downward and angling toward the Leviathan, and the Javelin soon followed, both ships charging forward into the crowd. After a second, the Alterium finally fired what Soundwave could only assume was the antimatter gun. The particles were technically matter-antimatter projectiles, somewhat dampening the sheer destructive nature of antimatter alone, but they still seemed frighteningly strong. The projectiles looked like small spheres, somehow both black and white at the same time, and as they flew forward, they seemed to curve, speeding up as they tracked down and hit the first two Pirate vessels, leaving visible dents as they made their impact, seeming to explode and dissipate as soon as they contacted another surface.

The larger laser ships finally turned, aiming their armatures toward the decepticon ships, and started firing. Soundwave could only watch, tense, helpless, as the Alterium and Javelin charged forward through the cloud of gunfire, speeding toward the Leviathan, their wings just barely missing the massive lasers that tried to strike them. All the while, the Triad hurtled forward, its own weapons raining down upon the ships it passed. He spotted the Voulge flying by toward one side, following the other two somewhat, but was distracted by several urgent beeps from the console, and his mind suddenly cleared.

Three fighter craft seemed to follow him, firing at the Triad. He spun the ship around, facing the fighters for a moment before firing a few maneuvering thrusters, sending the ship falling down suddenly. The craft continued forward, swinging around to fire back at the Triad, but Soundwave fired the main thrusters at full power again, slowing the ship down in its backward motion before sending it speeding forward once more. The radar signals followed him, and he started receiving comm signals from the other ships, namely from Starscream.

"Those laser ships are long-distance only. They have no close range weapons to speak of."

The words barely registered in Soundwave's mind as he, barely without a thought to his crew, swung the ship into the cloud of gunfire, passing by ships with just meters to spare, watching the radar intensely, before finally seeing one of the signatures abruptly stop in the cloud before disappearing, presumably from having impacted a ship. He looked up for a moment, seeing the Alterium circling the Leviathan, surrounded by what looked like a horde of small ships, raining hell down upon the meteor. But the Leviathan was  _ much _ larger than he'd expected, easily eclipsing the size of the autobot Ark... The  _ entire _ Darkmount fortress could fit inside the meteor and have space to spare.

He turned his focus back to his flight just in time to pull up, barely missing a laser ship. He glanced back at the radar, finding the other two craft still chasing him.

A series of beeps, and the ship practically screamed at him, the error messages filling his head that one of the main thrusters had started malfunctioning, stuck on full burn. That was... inconvenient, but he could work with it.

But as the Triad continued rocketing forward, seeming to finally outrun the two- no, four craft that now chased him, he started to realize that even the behemoth ship was also much larger than he'd first thought, and he was heading straight for it. He tilted the ship upward, curving out of the way, but he could see the multitude of turrets as they all pointed toward him and started firing.

Maybe that one malfunctioning thruster was a blessing. The Triad was suddenly showered in gunfire, Soundwave finally beginning to tremble as the whole ship started to shake, rocked by explosions, status errors surging through his mind faster than he could process them. After a moment, Megatron came through the comm link.

"Soundwave, I told you to stay back!"

[I can't lose these ships chasing me.]

"Starscream! Where are you?"

"I'm on it!"

Just as the Triad started to retreat from the behemoth, the Voulge swung by, returning fire at the ships following Soundwave, in turn being pummeled by the deluge of projectiles to come from the massive ship beside them. No sooner did the Voulge show up, in fact, than the two ships fled from the colossus, trying to shield themselves behind some of the other laser ships. Soundwave looked over once more, finding the Leviathan steadily cruising along, hardly seeming to be fazed by the Alterium's gunfire, even though massive chunks of it had already fallen off.

But his attention was stolen as the Triad was violently rocked to one side, throwing Soundwave to the floor. Fortunately, he didn't lose his connection, and was soon able to see that the ship had been struck by one of the laser ships. Again, error messages scrolled by faster than he could possibly process as he got to his feet. He  _ had _ to get out of this cloud... he had to lose these ships. But almost as soon as he shifted course, the ship was rocked forward by several explosions as boarding pods rammed into it. He sent a message across the Triad as he began to focus solely on escaping the chaos.

[Boarding pods on rear hull.]

He received several acknowledgement pings from vehicons near the area, and turned his focus back to the battle at hand. The decepticons were definitely advantaged in their technology, as their firepower was considerably better than the Pirates, but they were outnumbered so vastly here, so small compared to the army that sought to conquer Aether. In his view, he watched as turrets from the Triad finally targeted and destroyed some small fighter ships, but it wasn't nearly enough. The mid-sized ships spawned single pilot fighters, the laser ships spawned boarding pods, and the behemoth, whatever kind of spacecraft carrier it was, spawned the mid-sized ships. He looked back over, watching as the Alterium circled the Leviathan again, and he finally sent a message through the comm.

[There's no way you're destroying that thing alone.]

Megatron was clearly thinking, given that Steelwing responded after a second.

"We're making pretty big dents in the thing, but it'll take some time, sure."

[We don't  _ have _ time.]

Soundwave finally left the main cloud of ships, watching as more gunfire rained down from the Triad, able to spot the Apex Sirion keeping its distance as well, before Megatron responded.

"I believe you're right. All decepticons, target the Leviathan. We can't hold this invasion alone."

Just as the Triad and Apex started to turn back inward, toward the center of the fray where the Leviathan loomed, Soundwave found one of the laser ships pointed at him, and abruptly fired some of the maneuvering thrusters again, but it was too late. The laser struck the underside of the ship, melting its way through the hull for at least five seconds before the beam died down. Reports of engine failure screamed at him, lower deck engine fires, energon leaks. He stared toward the Leviathan for another moment, then back down at Aether. Which was safer now? The Triad was hardly in a condition to fight, even as the weapons continued to function. And while the convergence on the Leviathan by the other four ships served to draw attention from the Triad, there was also no way he could land on Aether now. He sent a message through the comm a moment later.

[Triad has lost landing thrusters.]

"What!?" Starscream responded.

Nonetheless, the Triad continued to dive forward, charging full-speed into the heart of the conflict. Ships exploded all around him, from small fighter craft to one of the laser ships, which started to break apart and burst into shrapnel as he passed. He glanced over, finding the Apex flying almost at the same speed beside him, but promptly looked back toward the Leviathan, and the behemoth that guarded it.

Just as the other three decepticon ships had begun doing, the Triad, too, began to circle the meteor, focusing as much of its firepower on it as was possible. But among the information fed to him was the concept that the Triad was also leaking energon at a significant rate... its power core wouldn't last for another twenty minutes at this rate, especially not while one of its thrusters couldn't be shut off.

He tried to stay as far away from the behemoth as possible, but it lingered right beside the meteor, guarding its prize with enough weapons to light up the vacuum of space. Lasers, gunfire, missiles, torpedo shells, all burst forth from the massive craft, striking all five decepticon ships indiscriminately. After a moment, he heard the seeker briefly scream over the radio.

"Voulge just lost weapons!"

Megatron's voice roared over the comm in response.

_ "Return to Aether! Don't risk it!" _

"But this thing isn't dying!"

[Wait!] Soundwave replied.

He stared at the Voulge, wondering for a split second if this was really a good idea. Nonetheless, he continued a second later.

[The Triad is lost, it's leaking energon and won't last another fifteen minutes. Let me...]

Soundwave couldn't think of how he wanted to phrase his plan, and Megatron responded before he could finish his thought.

"Soundwave, don't tell me..."

[Let me ram the Triad into the meteor and detonate the power core.]

"I can't let you."

[Your weapons aren't doing  _ anything. _ ]

"You couldn't possibly leave the blast radius in time!"

[My crew can evacuate to the Voulge. I don't need to detonate the ship from inside, but I need to keep it from being destroyed before it can get into an optimal position.]

"Soundwave-!"

Shockwave interrupted suddenly.

"I believe this to be logical, my liege. Without landing thrusters, the Triad is all but derelict."

"That's not the point!" Megatron shouted. "You'd never survive!"

[It's this or we fail our objective.]

Almost a minute went by in tense silence, and Soundwave watched as shot after shot of laser fire continued to strike the Leviathan, breaking off pieces and cracking others, but continuing to leave the meteor largely unscathed. Finally, Megatron let out a tense sigh over the comm link before speaking.

"Alright. New directive to all decepticons... fall back from the Leviathan. Evacuate the Triad. Soundwave will detonate it to try and destroy the meteor."

Almost immediately, Soundwave sent a message to the rest of his crew.

[Only crew incapable of flight should use the escape pods. Take them down to the surface. Do  _ not _ jettison until my command. Fliers should head toward the nearest ship. We have twelve minutes.]

In a probably futile effort to extend his time, Soundwave began shutting off various subsystems, even going so far as to cut power to some of the lights across the ship. Considering both the Voulge and Triad were now without weapons, the firepower from the Pirates soon became overwhelming again, and the Triad rocked to one side either from gunfire or engines melting down. Finding the area clear, he sent another message to his crew, already able to see the cloud of vehicons who fled the ship.

[Port side escape pods may launch now.]

Almost as if on cue, the escape pods started to burst from the ship, propelled by the Triad's own compression boosters, essentially firing each pod like a bullet from a gun. And Soundwave watched, soon finding one of the Pirate ships swinging down to ram straight into one of the pods, destroying both on impact. It felt like a knife to his spark to watch, but he forced himself to look away, focusing on how many decepticons remained on the ship. He turned, trying to get the other side of the ship at an optimal angle to jettison the rest of the pods, when Megatron shouted to the other ships.

"What are you all  _ doing!? Defend  _ the Triad!"

The Javelin, still in very good condition for what it had been through, swung by, seemingly careful to avoid the free vehicons or the escape pods, and placed itself between the Triad and the behemoth ship still pressuring them. Finally, Soundwave sent another message to his crew.

[Starboard escape pods may launch now.]

He stared at the signal count among the stream of information fed to him, watching as the count of signals on the Triad finally fell to just one, and he turned the ship toward the Leviathan, firing all main thrusters at full power. As his cable unplugged from the ship's terminal, he sent one more message.

[If anyone I cannot see remains on the Triad, speak now.]

But only silence surrounded him as he looked around, finding the room completely empty, lit solely by the cyan glow of the phazon meteor as he approached it. He sent one more message over the comm.

[All decepticon ships, retreat to Aether.]

He took a deep breath, and turned back to the console. He fully intended to survive this, but the problem was that causing a power core meltdown would require some very specific tampering, and he didn't have much time to attempt it. He shut off the main thrusters, trying to buy himself more time as the meteor began to fill his visible space, and began frantically working.

Disable safety valves, disable heat transfer locks, disable control armatures,  _ confirm _ disable control armatures. Set power transfer to maximum, confirm administrator status, cut power to emergency shutdown subsystem, cut power to emergency meltdown containment.

Two maximum priority error messages popped up on the screen before him.

[WARNING: Nuclear meltdown imminent in power cores: (1), (2).]

[WARNING: 00:02:52:76 UNTIL ENERGON SUPPLY REACHES THERMONUCLEAR DETONATION POINT.]

Soundwave began trembling as he backed away from the console, looking up at the Leviathan as it began to loom closer. The Triad started to shake violently, momentarily throwing him to the floor. He looked toward the window, then ran toward it, the Resonance Blaster folding out from his arm once more. He held it to the glass and fired, causing a horrible sound as the vibrations started to cause it to warp and crack, turning up the intensity in desperation just to finally cause it to break.

Naturally, as soon as the glass broke, the vacuum of space rapidly sucked the air from the room, taking Soundwave with it, hurtling forward toward the meteor. It took a moment for him to come to his senses, but he transformed as rapidly as he could, flying around the Triad, suddenly able to see just how many ships surrounded the decepticons. Without the protection of the Triad, he was completely vulnerable to any of their attacks, and hardly able to move as fast as them. With barely a thought, he accessed the Apex Sirion's computer system, activating a groundbridge portal in front of him, moving slightly forward, if only to try and lessen the effect of his suddenly flying through into the transport room in the Apex at blinding speed, hardly having the time to transform back before he tumbled across the room and slammed into the opposite wall hard enough to crack his visor. With a slightly delirious thought, he shut down the portal, and, while lying motionless on the floor, sent a message across the comm channel.

[I have bridged back to the Apex Sirion.]

Megatron and Starscream replied almost at the same time, and in the confusion following the impact to his head, Soundwave forgot whose voice was whose.

"Soundwave!"

"You're okay!"

The third voice to respond, on the other hand, he knew instantly was Shockwave's.

"We may still be within the blast radius."

Soundwave finally started to pick himself up, his whole body feeling numb and weak, but he leaned his weight against the wall as he sat upright, looking out a nearby window to see the Leviathan in the distance, growing smaller by the second, and the Pirate ships that had surrounded it seeming to flee just as the decepticons did. In the silence that followed, he sent one last message to the Triad. Not to the crew who'd been stationed there, but rather to the ship's computers itself.

[I'm sorry, Triad. I did what I could to save you. Thank you for all you've done for the decepticons. I hope your sacrifice is not in vain.]

He stared out the window, watching as the shimmering form of the Triad finally rammed into the Leviathan, almost immediately becoming enveloped in a blinding burst of light, so intense that Soundwave threw himself back down to the floor, finding that even the whole of the room he was in was glowing bright enough to be painful. The Apex Sirion began to shake as particles from the explosion struck the vessel, some of which likely began to melt through its hull considering the unfathomable temperatures present within an explosion of that caliber. Soundwave, however, merely remained curled up on the floor, shielding his eyes from the light, trying to catch his breath, until finally messages from Starscream started to come through the comm link again, though they were almost entirely static.

"...-breaking my sensors! I can't-... -heading back-"

A minute went by before Shockwave responded, his message significantly less staticy.

"The amount of radiation present will interfere with instruments and communication for a time."

Finally, Soundwave started to move, daring to open his eyes again, finding the room he was in empty and quiet. Hesitantly he looked back out the window, finding only the Pirate ships that managed to survive, namely several mid-sized ships and about half of the behemoth. The front half had presumably been either melted from the particles of the explosion, or melted by the sheer amount of radiation that followed, leaving the other half intact, but seemingly dead.

That explosion was not nearly as effective in the vacuum of space as it would have been in the air, where shockwaves would have torn the ships apart, and the temperature would permeate the sky. But of course, the goal of the explosion was to destroy the Leviathan, and that's precisely what it had done.

Soundwave finally climbed to his feet, trudging, almost without a thought, back to the bridge of the Apex. When the door opened and he stepped onto the bridge, half of its occupants turned to face him, including Shockwave, just as the scientist sent a message through the comm channel.

"The Leviathan has been destroyed."

The crew began to cheer somewhat, at least until the Apex was jolted to one side, and Megatron's voice replied.

"But it didn't destroy all the Pirates. We still have an invasion to stop."

The crew all looked toward the glowing orb before them, the shining beauty of the planet they'd sworn to protect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MEGACHAPTER (~5100 words, average is 3700)  
> Alright, so, I'd planned something entirely different for the Triad, but... THAT was much cooler.  
> But I'm only halfway done~
> 
> Some science notes:  
> I was only able to do this because A-Scl at one point asked Shockwave how they power their ships, and he replied with fission reactions. I don't know why or even how a ship could be nuclear powered (mostly relating to propulsion), but it adds a lot of... umm... opportunities.  
> A nuclear meltdown is not an explosion, but rather the melting down of the fuel rods and a release of uncontrolled radiation.  
> On the other hand, a thermonuclear explosion uses an initial explosion to trigger a fission chain reaction, which is the nuclear part of the explosion. The blast range, the shockwaves, and the incredible temperatures therein really only apply to explosions on the ground or in the air. At least I think so. I mean, we've never fired nuclear weapons in space (correction: actually we have, but I wasn't too far off in my estimation of what it would look like). But there is still a huge amount of dangerous radiation released as a result, as well as all the vaporized, likely plasma result of the stuff that got blown up.
> 
> In short, what Soundwave did was to shut down the cooling to the nuclear reactor, letting it reach dangerously high temperatures. From there, either time or the ship crashing transferred that heat to the ship's entire energon supply, causing it to detonate, in turn causing the nuclear fuel to detonate.


	31. Rise of the Silver Seeker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I managed to completely exhaust the usefulness of the Disc Wars music from the Tron Legacy soundtrack writing this. I mean... I spent three hours straight listening to it on loop. So I switched to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Out4wtHLFBE
> 
> This chapter is also above average in length, but shorter than the previous one.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Starscream asked. "They still outnumber us."

Soundwave, in the silence that followed, stepped up beside Shockwave, staring at his console. The scientist watched him, moving his hand off to one side when Soundwave reached toward it, grabbing one side and looking up at Shockwave. Part of him wanted to place his own hand over Shockwave's, but this really wasn't the time.

Megatron finally responded, the crew of the Apex just listening silently, though the ship was still occasionally struck by stray shots of gunfire.

"Soundwave, can you add the luminoth to the comm channel?"

The scientist backed away as Soundwave took his place at the console, sending a message a few seconds later.

[It is done.]

Megatron hesitated before speaking again.

"If any of the Luminoth are there, we've managed to destroy the Leviathan, but the Pirates are following us to Aether."

Everyone waited until, finally, a response came, likely from U-Mos.

"You've done it? Lead the enemy to Sanctuary Fortress, and we may fight with you."

The gladiator let out a short sigh as he addressed the decepticons once more.

"Do what he says. Land our ships by the fortress if you can. I expect to see our fliers doing what they can to bring the last of the Pirates down."

Steelwing spoke a moment later.

"That's the region covered by a giant storm system?"

Soundwave and Shockwave both looked up at the spot they were flying toward, finding that it was, indeed, shrouded in clouds massive enough to be easily visible from space. U-Mos replied, his voice sounding regretful.

"Sanctuary Fortress is the only region of ours with enough weapons to deter an invasion. That's what it was built for."

"So be it," Megatron said. "We've suffered worse."

Shockwave interjected almost immediately.

"My Lord, I hold doubts that this ship will even be able to survive re-entry."

"Then start bridging people to the surface. But do everything you can to save the ship."

"Understood."

"That goes for all ships. If you can safely open portals to the surface, do it. Our main priority at this point is to keep everyone safe."

With that, Soundwave and Shockwave turned back to look at the rest of the crew, and Shockwave gave a ship-wide message.

"All ground-based Apex Sirion crew to the transport room."

Shockwave turned back to the console as a few of the crew turned to leave, and Soundwave stared up at the scientist, expecting him, too, to leave. After a minute, Shockwave met his gaze, muttering quietly after a moment.

"As the ship's captain I am required to stay with the ship."

Soundwave squeezed his way between Shockwave and the console, shoving the scientist away after a moment. Shockwave's posture tensed up, and for the first time, he looked toward Soundwave with true anger in his aura; determination and pride.

"This is  _ my _ ship."

While Soundwave had to use leverage in order to push the scientist away, Shockwave was considerably heavier, and so when he approached again and moved Soundwave aside with a mere sweep of his arm, the other decepticon stumbled back, finally backing away from the console. But, just as the scientist turned back to his console, Soundwave smiled behind his visor; the devious type of smile that Starscream frequently did. With a thought, a groundbridge portal opened directly beneath Shockwave, sending him falling through it, sending him back to the Apex's transport room. He closed the portal almost immediately, well before Shockwave had a chance to climb back through, and received a message from the scientist a moment later.

[Well played.]

Without a response, Soundwave opened a portal down to Aether's surface, and pulled up cameras from the transport room showing as some of the crew, Shockwave included, started to step through it. With his cable he again plugged into the terminal, though it was momentarily jarring given that the Apex Sirion just...  _ felt _ different than the Triad. He could see on the radar the Pirate ships chasing them, and the other decepticon ships beside them, but the two factions were awfully far away for now, and so no one really sought to attack the other. As such, Soundwave had a few moments to stare up at the planet quickly beginning to encompass his view.

After a minute, however, the Apex began to shake slightly from contact with the outer atmosphere, and Soundwave grabbed onto the console. Just as the other decepticon ships did in the distance, the Apex fired some of its maneuvering thrusters forward, trying to slow the descent before the ship  _ really _ started to hit the atmosphere. As such, the Pirate vessels quickly began to encroach upon them, one in particular actually speeding up and aiming toward the Voulge. Soundwave, watching the radar intently, sent a message over the comm after a second.

[Starscream, you have-]

"I'm not an idiot, Soundwave."

He watched as several single-person spacecraft launched from the ship chasing the Voulge, and all the ships around began to form a compression wave beneath each one as the air around them grew denser. The Voulge swung to one side, avoiding the ship that tried to reach it, firing its own thrusters again to fall back behind the vessel, where the Javelin's weapons promptly opened fire on the Pirate craft, tearing it to pieces that promptly started to burn up in the intense heat. The Apex started shaking violently as it was soon surrounded by a plume of flame, and Soundwave looked down toward the storm system they were aiming for. If this ship could survive re-entry,  _ maybe _ it could land intact...

He watched the radar again, finding one of the Pirate craft again speeding forward, once again releasing about four fighter craft, and once again hurtling toward the Voulge. The Voulge swung off to one side, just as it had done before, but rather than stopping, the Pirate craft continued, flying straight for the Apex. Soundwave sent the command to fire some of the maneuvering thrusters, but he never got any feedback, nor did the ship seem to move. Oh no... was it  _ still _ malfunctioning?

The ship rammed into the Apex Sirion with an audible burst, sending the ship spinning as it fell, tumbling through the atmosphere. Still connected to the terminal, Soundwave desperately held onto it, able to see as the whole of the crew were tossed about, and started trying to break the craft out of its spin, at the very least. Given that the maneuvering thrusters seemed nonfunctional once again, it seemed he'd have to rely on the flight controls instead.

The roaring sound of the air around the ship was deafening, making it impossible to even hear the static-shrouded messages from the other ships, but Soundwave actually closed his eyes, just trying to focus all of his mental energy on gaining control of the ship. Gradually, the tumbling of the Apex started to slow, and he finally looked through the main display again just to see the horizon stabilize before him.

He tried to check the radar again, but given the chaotic conditions of re-entry, neither the comms nor the radar were working. The decepticon ships were all on their own for now. He accessed some external cameras, finding that he'd drifted some distance from the other ships in the tumbling, and that the Pirates had started firing on the other craft. Before long, the Apex swung back toward the fray, returning its own fire, but Soundwave started getting error messages about heat damage.

_ Just a little bit more, _ he thought.

He could see the thunderstorm looming in the distance, a massive cloud formation lit in brilliant white by the sun above, but shrouding the ground below in darkness, occasionally flashing with lightning. All the while, the Apex continued to shake violently, consumed in superheated air, vibrating in a way that did  _ not _ feel right. He looked over, finding the Voulge trying to swerve out of the way of another Pirate ship, given that it had no weapons with which to retaliate. The other ships hesitantly fired back, but some of the shots struck the Voulge instead, others being too slow to properly aim at such a fast-moving target.

Soundwave looked toward the storm system ahead, trying to slow the Apex Sirion, but finding that again, the maneuvering thrusters had stopped working. With a hesitant sigh, he sent the order to the crew.

[Get out now. This ship isn't going to make it to the ground.]

It was low enough in the atmosphere now that the vehicons could safely jump out and fly around, but Soundwave wanted to scream. Could he do  _ nothing _ for these ships!? While the rest of the ships had started slowing down again, the Apex continued to fall, streaking through the sky, barely slowed by air resistance anymore. Soundwave sent a message over the comms, considering the interference from re-entry had started to abate.

[Shockwave was right. The Apex Sirion has lost control of maneuvering thrusters again. I will try, but at present I have no way of slowing the ship.]

Megatron responded, practically yelling at him.

"Don't risk it! If the Apex is lost, then it's lost!"

[I don't know that yet.]

_ "Damn it Soundwave!  _ We can  _ always _ build another ship!"

Soundwave's mind began to fill with agony and rage, and as such, his message could never quite convey everything he felt.

[It's because of  _ me _ that the Triad got shot. It's because of  _ me _ that we couldn't do repairs on the Apex. It's because of  _ me _ that the Triad's now vaporized!  _ Give me just one fragging chance to try and save something!] _

_ "You already saved this planet, what more do you want!?" _

The Apex Sirion suddenly dove into the thunderstorm, the howling of the air around the ship growing even louder, mixed with the cracking sounds of lightning and the rolling growls of thunder from far away. In addition, he could practically hear the metal in the front of the ship begin warping and cracking from stress, finally giving out from the forces imparted on it. He desperately tried to control the rest of the ship, his mind consumed with despair as he heard entire panels of metal fall off, the ship warning him about hull breaches, the screaming of the storm growing ever closer to him. A bolt of lightning cracked nearby, briefly overloading his sensitive hearing, leaving him all but deaf. The lights in the ship started to falter, and he was able to see the hole in the ship encroaching toward him, feeling the frigid wind as it poured inside.

But the flight controls seemed to do nothing at all. Maybe they had been melted from the tumbling, considering only the front of the ship had real heat shielding, or maybe they'd simply broken from the stress, given that they were not meant to be used at this speed. Either way, Soundwave finally unplugged from the terminal, throwing himself across the console, burying his face in his arms. Despite what everyone else thought, these ships were  _ alive _ to him. The loss of the Triad was tragic enough, but to lose two ships in one day? These vessels were works of art in their own right, forged with care and precision, built with skill and finesse, hundreds of people pouring their very sparks into each one. And in return, the ships gave them protection, a home, a flying fortress from which to wage their war. The lives of these ships were not so worthless as to be wantonly discarded.

The Apex Sirion started to fall apart all around Soundwave, the air currents finally growing strong enough to pull him away from the console and throw him out into the thunderstorm. He merely fell for a moment, but opened his eyes to look up and watch as the ship fell ahead of him, streaking by, slowly disappearing into the fog and rain. Soundwave's hearing finally started to return, at least enough to hear the sounds of thunder again. Finally, he transformed, and flew away.

[Apex Sirion is lost.]

Between the high altitude, the frigid winds and the swirling rain, wherever he was in the thunderstorm was insanely cold, given that ice almost immediately began to form across the leading edges of his wings. He looked down, scanning the area below him, finding himself almost directly above what he assumed was Sanctuary Fortress. Granted, it was a few miles below him, but it was situated on the peak of a mountain, surrounded by near-vertical cliffs.

That, of course, was all he could discern from the basic radar scan he did, considering he couldn't actually see a thing. Starscream soon came over the comm link.

"Voulge will be able to land safely. I'll go destroy some ships myself, if I have to."

Soundwave watched as Starscream's signal diverged from the Voulge, flying over toward him. Megatron presumably left the Alterium as well, considering he did the same thing before sending his own message.

"I won't let you alone have that honor, of course."

"Ugh, such a buzzkill, aren't you?"

After a minute, Steelwing also started flying to converge on Soundwave's location.

"I'll be honored to fly with you."

Megatron sent a global message a moment later.

"If you can fly, help us take down the last of these Pirates. We have nowhere to hide now. This is our last stand."

A message from the luminoth came through in response, though it wasn't U-Mos.

"This is I-Kul, Sentinel of Sanctuary Fortress. I have all our weapons calibrated to disregard you as targets. My sister A-Kul was named Champion of Aether for her strength and her selfless acts in defense of this planet... I only hope I can make her proud."

U-Mos replied after a second.

"You already have."

Starscream and Megatron flew up to Soundwave at about the same time, both having to slow down to match his speed, both cruising along either side of him, watching as wave after wave of decepticon fliers converged to join their group, insecticons included. Soundwave sent a message over the global comm.

[I will be providing surveillance, and helping fight wherever possible. Do not be afraid to ask me for help with targeting.]

With that, he began to ascend, watching the other decepticons as they became shrouded in the rain and fog. He struggled to even fly in a straight line considering the rapidly shifting air currents, some updrafts catching his wings and throwing him upward almost violently. Something struck one of his tail wings as he climbed. Was there hail up here?

Megatron spoke through the comm link again, his voice returning to the calm determination that had driven the decepticons to fight in the first place.

_ "Shoot them out of the sky!" _

Soundwave watched, able to tell from radar signals that a Pirate ship swung by, and the whole of the decepticon crowd scattered to swarm it, speeding up to outrun it and fire upon the craft. Still, the ship was very hard to detect with radar, considering its signal kept fading in and out. Megatron spoke a moment later.

"Are these ships all radar shielded?"

Soundwave watched as a faint burst of light showed the ship to be exploding, falling from the sky, and he promptly switched over to infrared scanning. Almost immediately, he could see the dozen or so other Pirate ships looming above, waiting to strike.

[Looks like it. Just use thermal imaging.]

"... What? I don't have thermal imaging..."

Starscream, who had at some point broken away from the pack, responded.

"... You... don't? I do. Anyone else have it?"

Met with a minute of silence, Soundwave started broadcasting his thermal scans to the whole of the group, in essence augmenting their own radar systems as he spoke.

[Starscream and I are the only decepticons with earth-based vehicle modes. And given that Cybertron doesn't have storms like this, I imagine we're the only ones equipped to deal with this horrible visibility.]

Soundwave continued to ascend, trying to put all of the ships within his range of vision, listening as Megatron growled in response.

"And to think I called both of you idiots for copying earth vehicles... By the way, thank you, Soundwave. I couldn't see a thing."

Soundwave continued to at least try to fly in a straight line, watching as a few decepticon signals started to go offline, but other Pirate fighter ships started to fall out of the cloud as well.

Despite the advantages afforded by his vehicle mode, it was  _ not _ built to withstand this kind of turbulence. Soundwave had to pour all his focus just into staying level, having to fight the currents that swept him in all directions, trying to ignore the incredible discomfort as rain coated his entire form and was promptly frozen solid, all while he was occasionally pelted with stray chunks of hail. But he watched as Starscream, chased by four Pirate fighters, spun and danced through the sky, hardly giving them any opportunity to follow. Still, they persisted, joined by the cloud of other enemy fighters that finally started to launch from the other ships, until at least seven individual fighters all started to target Starscream.

The seeker might have been worthless in a firefight on the ground, but in the air he was incomparable, even to Megatron. The gladiator certainly had more firepower, but Starscream weaved around shots and spun through the air as quickly as his vehicle form would allow him, which was, to say,  _ very _ rapidly. From Soundwave's perspective, it hardly looked like Starscream had any time to think, dodging other fliers as he weaved through the crowd at easily twice the speed of anyone else around him. The seven fighters were reduced to five in one pass, one ramming into another fighter, the other striking a decepticon flier. Two of the Pirate fighters fired missiles toward the seeker, but the message that Starscream sent over the comm a moment later was not what Soundwave had been expecting.

_ "Primus _ it's cold up here. I'm running my engine temperature up and I'm  _ still  _ icing over."

[You know you have two missiles heading toward you, right?]

"... Yeah? Doesn't change the fact that I'm really cold. What's the temperature?"

Soundwave watched on his thermal scans as Starscream sped up to outrun the missiles, swinging around one of the larger Pirate ships and letting the missiles hit the ship instead. The seeker then pulled abruptly upward, firing one of his own missiles toward one of the other large ships, speaking over the comm again after a moment.

"Soundwave?"

[Sorry, I... I was too busy watching you. Outside temperature is -10F. I was not built for this, I can barely keep level.]

Lightning cracked around him, snapping from cloud to cloud, almost disabling his hearing again. It lit up the sky in an odd bright violet color, reflecting off of the torrential rain as it flashed a few times. He looked down again, finding the turrets of Sanctuary Fortress returning their own fire, targeting Pirate fighters and pelting them with gunfire, only needing to target each for a few seconds before the ships exploded, sending shrapnel raining down. He watched the chaos, the uncoordinated swarm of decepticons and fighters and ships all exchanging fire, weaving around other vessels, but two exceptions stood out among them. Megatron, with his ridiculous firepower, taking out individual fighters in a single hit, and Starscream, speeding past everyone else around him, drawing attention and gunfire from the other fighters, but managing to go entirely unscathed. A signal started to approach, however, and Soundwave looked to find that there were two fighters flying behind him, one of which began to open fire. He dove down, gaining some speed, but easily being followed by the fighters. Given that his focus shifted to avoiding fire, he was able to see that as soon as he stopped broadcasting his scans, the whole of the decepticon swarm went still, seeming lost. Soundwave started spinning through the air, at least trying to avoid the gunfire, when Megatron spoke over the comm.

"Soundwave? What happened?"

[I'm being chased.]

He could immediately tell that Starscream turned toward him, but he deployed Laserbeak anyway, though a few of the joints were difficult to move due to them being completely frozen over. The drone hung back, placing itself behind Soundwave so as to fire upon the two fighters, and soon they split, flying in opposite directions. Soundwave pulled up again, watching as Laserbeak took several hits from one fighter which promptly exploded as the second of Starscream's missiles struck it from below. Soundwave sent a message a moment later.

[You just wasted one of your missiles on me?]

"It's not a waste. No one can see without you. I don't even know how you do that broadcast thing."

Not a second later, the sound of Starscream's engine filled the air, the deafening roar growing louder as the seeker shot upward almost directly in front of Soundwave. He tried to turn away, but soon found himself struck by the sheer force of his wake, being thrown downward, tossed violently about, having to transform out of his vehicle form just to avoid his wings breaking in half from the force. As he fell out of the column of turbulence, he looked up, finding the glow of Starscream's engine disappearing into the clouds, followed by the sound of gunfire and a ship exploding. He transformed again and started broadcasting his thermal scans once more, sending another message.

[Your wake turbulence just about broke my arms.]

"Oh, you and your frail little glider body."

Soundwave looked around him, finding that only nine of the large ships remained, among a cloud of fighter ships. I-Kul's voice came over the comm a moment later.

"Bring those ships down here. You're too high up for me to target them."

Starscream and Megatron almost immediately dove toward the surface, though some of the other decepticons took a minute. Steelwing, in particular, continued climbing almost straight up, and Soundwave turned his focus to the silver flier as he kept going, tailed by one of the larger ships and at two fighters. He started trying to target the ship, though his thermal imaging was frequently disrupted by all the bolts of lightning piercing the sky. Steelwing kept going, however, even as the ship started to slow down.

[Steelwing, what are you doing?]

"Giving myself room."

[For?]

Without an answer, Steelwing abruptly turned and dove straight down, weaving in between the ships that followed him in order to do so. They, in turn, started to dive after him, and Soundwave watched, suddenly realizing what he was trying to do. Frantically, he started scanning the terrain below, sending the information back to Steelwing, who spoke after a second.

"Yeah, thanks, that'll help."

The silver form continued to dive, slowing down somewhat just to let the ships behind him start to catch up, and Soundwave could only stare, watching as Steelwing dove out of the clouds entirely from what he could discern, just a thousand feet from the surface, and pulled sharply up, probably scraping the ground based on the way he moved as a result. The fighter ships easily followed, but the larger craft, unable to maneuver out of the way, slammed straight into the ground, bursting apart on impact. As Steelwing started to climb again, he led the fighters past the Fortress's turrets, which all but obliterated the craft in moments. Just as Soundwave was about to send a message, Starscream came over the radio instead.

"I taught him that."

Soundwave smiled inside as Steelwing replied.

"I don't know that doing a suicide dive once when I was present and telling me to remember it really counts as teaching me."

His voice became tense and hesitant as he continued. "I... I mean... I do value your-"

"Shut up with the formalities," Starscream said. "You've earned the right to be snarky. But  _ only _ you!"

Soundwave watched as one more Pirate ship exploded by way of the Fortress turrets. Seven more to go. Megatron replied to the seeker a moment later.

"You should watch how often you grant that right. I'm sure you don't-"

Megatron's voice was overpowered by a loud bang, followed by static and the shorting out of his comm link. Soundwave turned his focus to the gladiator, watching as he started to fall haphazardly out of the sky.

[Lord Megatron?]

His signal seemed to come back a moment later, and it seemed as though he tried to send a message over the comm link, though it only came across as a brief moment of highly distorted static. His radar signal faded a moment later, overcome with interference. Starscream, even as he led several fighters in a pass around the Fortress, responded a moment later.

"What happened?"

[Lightning, I think.]

Starscream sounded exasperated, practically yelling in disbelief.

_ "Are you telling me _ the Kaon SL518 Class 7 model has enough power to mount a  _ fusion cannon _ but it can't withstand lightning!?"

[Cybertron doesn't have storms like this.]

"It's pathetic!"

Soundwave watched, able to see Megatron hit the ground in the distance, still seeming to be unresponsive.

[You should be  _ really _ glad he didn't hear you say that. Steelwing, go find him.]

"Yes sir."

Soundwave stared toward where the gladiator had fallen, desperately wanting to go help, but realizing that he was also the only one capable of showing the other decepticons where the Pirate ships were. Another stray piece of hail struck him as he continued to cruise above the fight, watching as the ships started to be picked away, leaving the Pirates and the decepticons almost equally numerous. It seemed as though they'd finally started to turn the tide of this battle...

Another deafening crack, and Soundwave sparked with electricity, practically being forced out of his vehicle form as he started seizing uncontrollably, able to tell that he, too, had been struck by lightning, but managing to stay conscious as he fell. After a few moments, he started to be able to move again, his senses starting to return to him, and transformed once more, resuming his broadcast as though nothing had happened. He watched, finding only a couple Pirate ships remaining among several fighters, finally starting to become outnumbered.

And he stared at Starscream, who, seemingly more aggressive now, started firing upon the remaining ships, his turns sharp and violent, impossible for the fighters following him to copy. He seemed to make the rest of the decepticons completely meaningless by comparison as he swerved, firing upon one craft, pulling up to invert himself and fire upon another, swinging down into a sharp spiral, avoiding several bursts of gunfire, before bringing the fighters in a sharp dive toward Sanctuary Fortress once again, whose massive turrets destroyed the ships all too easily. With some amount of concealed joy, Soundwave sent a message to Starscream.

[You really cleaned up out here.]

"This was what I was built for."

Soundwave was about to send another message, only to be cut off by a faint sound in the distance, growing steadily louder as he tried to locate it. It sounded like a rocket, but he didn't see any other heat signatures except-

He finally found the anomaly, a small form traveling  _ impossibly _ fast, veiled in what looked like a glowing blue ball, surrounded by the plume of steam it created as it sped through the fog. The sound became almost louder than the lightning as it passed by, streaking through the sky with a high-pitched shriek. Rather than continuing in a straight path toward Sanctuary Fortress, however, it curved, heading off somewhere else. Soundwave sent another global message, watching as both he and Starscream turned to follow the anomaly.

[We're going to investigate whatever that was. You'll have to rely on radar from here on out.]

Even though Starscream could easily have chased the anomaly at its speed, Soundwave did not have his immense engine power, and so the seeker resorted to cruising alongside him at Soundwave's maximum speed. A few transmissions came from the luminoth a moment later.

"Did you see that?"

"Was that a meteor?"

"Don't tell me..."

U-Mos's voice broke through the confusion a second later.

"It's her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Superchapter!  
> I actually used to kinda sorta be a pilot. I was most of the way to getting my private pilot license, and have done a few solo flights, but... issues. Point is, I'm throwing in aspects of flying that most people (like the writers for TFP) don't think about, such as wake turbulence, which can and has physically broken planes if not sent them into the ground.
> 
> I really need to stop doing such long end notes but you guys HAVE to hear this.  
> I'm assuming Soundwave's vehicle mode is the MQ9 Raptor drone (it's hard to really tell). It has a turboprop engine, not a jet, but it seems close enough. The MQ9's empty weight is about 5,000 pounds. Pretty hefty, I guess.
> 
> Keep in mind that Starscream is the same height as Soundwave, and seems to be the same... shall we say... density. His vehicle mode is based on the F16 Fighting Falcon, which has an empty weight of about 19,000 pounds.  
> STARSCREAM IS LIKE FOUR TIMES HEAVIER THAN SOUNDWAVE. At least if we're basing it on the weight of their vehicle modes.
> 
> I honestly have no idea if either plane has thermal/infrared imaging, but I think that can fall within the realm of suspension of disbelief.
> 
> Also, A-Kul is metroid canon. She was the Champion of Aether, seeming to use a shitton of weapons, and is the one that leaves you notes about where all the other keybearers are. I wanted to use a relative of hers for a while.
> 
> I dunno. I was a bit disappointed by this chapter for some reason. Still, I got to write a better scene than in TFP where Optimus is chasing the drone trying to locate the Nemesis, and Starscream shoots it down. Not a bad scene, but the thunderstorm is just the backdrop there, and it bothers me because there's perfect visibility, and there's no rain. Real thunderstorm conditions are genuinely terrifying. Freezing rain is bad enough on its own.


	32. The Corruptor

Soundwave and Starscream sped through the rain toward the anomaly as its tremendous heat began to fade away and it slowed somewhat, though was still more than fast enough to break through the ceiling of a tall building, stopping once inside. The two, finally having descended out of the clouds, were able to see the building as they rushed toward it, finding a massive hole smashed in the ceiling from whatever had just forced its way through. Soundwave and Starscream, almost in tandem, transformed and landed through the hole in the building, immediately taking defensive postures as they looked around.

The room was mostly empty, save for a large device in the center that seemed to house a glowing white ball. U-Mos stood in front of it, clad in the same thin, sleek silver armor he'd worn when bridging to the Erebus, facing the anomaly.

She looked human in shape, easily dwarfed by all the beings around her, but she floated off the ground just as U-Mos did, and was coated in black armor dotted with cyan markings. Pieces of her armor jutted off like scales, and three long scaled chains trailed from her helmet, two dotted with cyan, the center one colored purple. Still, she seemed to emanate an incredible amount of power, and as she turned to look directly toward Soundwave, he froze.

This was Dark Samus in her full power. The face behind the angular visor stared toward him with determined, glowing eyes, and she just barely smiled.

"I believe we've met."

Starscream glanced over toward Soundwave a couple times, holding his arms forward, both transformed into his less than optimal blasters, but he remained silent, as did Soundwave. Dark Samus looked as though she was going to speak, until she was interrupted by another sound, that of a groundbridge opening up on the other side of the room. Shockwave stepped through a moment later, almost immediately pointing his arm cannon toward the black armored figure. He looked up at Soundwave, muttering after a moment.

"I was with the luminoth."

U-Mos glanced between the three decepticons, his voice sounding pleading.

"This is beyond you, please don't get involved... this is my duty."

Dark Samus began laughing; not an amused laugh, but a taunting, humiliating, psychotic laugh, and she looked toward U-Mos.

"What, you think you can take me!? You were so helpless before that you just  _ let _ the Ing take over your temples, kill all your keybearers! You're only here because Samus felt you deserved to be saved for some reason, and now you think you can fight me!?"

"I am sworn to defend this temple with my life, and I can assure you I'm more than equipped to do so. I will die before you poison my world."

"If you people want to live like the Chozo, then you'll  _ die _ like them."

Dark Samus held her hands up, wisps of cyan electricity beginning to surround her before she finally threw her hands downward, sending a shockwave of blinding light radiating out from her, striking the decepticons and causing all of them to stumble to the floor, overwhelmed with a surge of energy. Soundwave could only watch as U-Mos seemed immune to the burst, holding his hands crossed in front of him, pushed back slightly by the force of the attack, but surrounding himself in a psychic shield. Dark Samus, on the other hand, seemed to disappear completely, becoming entirely transparent before fading away. Soundwave started to pick himself up, watching as U-Mos held his hands out to either side, creating a glowing orb in front of him. He threw one hand up into the air, and the ball in front of him burst apart, shattering into several fragments that shot across the room, curving through the air and converging on one spot, from which Dark Samus was thrown to the floor, momentarily bathed in fire. She floated up into the air once more, a torrent of phazon blasts pouring from her hands, all striking a shield U-Mos generated only with his thoughts. Soundwave stood up just as Starscream and Shockwave soon did, and tried to target Dark Samus, only to find  _ three  _ of her spinning around each other, flying across the room. U-Mos seemed unfazed, throwing bursts of glowing light from his hands to track her down, though they were easily stopped by a bubble of phazon that surrounded the corruptor.

Soundwave glanced over at Starscream and Shockwave, finding them looking equally baffled by what was happening. He stepped forward, sending a brief message to the other two decepticons, prompting them to cover their ears.

With but a shout, he compressed the sound, amplifying it, building it into a sonic boom. The wave of force radiated through the room, breaking all of the windows and throwing Dark Samus out of whatever parallel dimension she had faded into. She glanced toward Soundwave, and U-Mos seized his chance, throwing a whip of black, purple energy toward her. As it wrapped around the armored form, tendrils grew out of it, seeping into her armor and causing her to let out a shriek. On the other hand, it seemed to do the same thing to U-Mos's arm, crawling across his hand and up his arm, growing across his exoskeleton.

A shot from Shockwave's gun struck Dark Samus on the side of her head, and Starscream soon began to fire as well. After a few seconds of this, however, the tendrils holding the armored form began to turn cyan with phazon, before finally shattering apart. With a flick of her hand, she flung Starscream back into the wall, staring toward Soundwave with eyes glowing with rage, before throwing her hands up. A wall of solid crystal phazon rose up from the floor, separating her and U-Mos from the decepticons. Soundwave rushed forward to try and reach them, but held his hands to the wall, only able to watch through some of its prisms as Dark Samus began raining down a torrent of phazon upon the Sentinel. Glowing white bursts of energy spewed from her hands, followed a moment later by a massive laser, engulfing the luminoth. His psychic shields weren't impermeable... were they?

Soundwave held his hand to the phazite wall, firing the resonance blaster in an attempt to break through. Shockwave ran up to him a moment later, glancing over toward Starscream for a second, finding him beginning to pick himself up off the floor.

"Vibrations won't affect the wall," Shockwave said. With that, the two stared through the icy looking wall, trying to see what they could see.

But it was impossible to watch U-Mos, because he was shrouded completely by Dark Samus's attacks. She was relentless, raining down shots of phazon faster than the turrets the Space Pirate ships had.

The glowing ball of energy suspended above the device in the center of the room started pulsing, and before anyone could react, the phazite walls shattered apart in yet another shockwave that threw the decepticons to the floor. Dark Samus stopped, floating high in the air, looking down at U-Mos as he stood up. The Sentinel's armor had started glowing brilliantly, its lights pulsing in sync to the glowing orb above him.

"I give you this chance only once," he said. "Leave now before I kill you."

Dark Samus merely let out a laugh in response. U-Mos lifted off the ground, holding his hands to either side. The lights on his suit began to flicker purple, and he let out a scream. Purple lightning sparked around him as his body tensed up, and the air and rain were soon drawn toward him, circling around him, coalescing into a raging storm before he became shrouded in a black orb, and Dark Samus held her hands up in defense. The world felt as though it started to tilt toward the sphere, and Soundwave braced himself as much as he could, considering gravity itself had started to shift.

After a second, however, another black whip reached out from the singularity, grabbing Dark Samus and again enveloping her, tendrils growing across her armor fast enough to immobilize her. She let out a horrifying scream as the tentacles pulled her into the void, her voice promptly disappearing just as she did. In an instant, the singularity shrank, collapsing around U-Mos, sending him falling to the floor. He landed on his feet, but his armor had turned purple, tendrils of black energy remaining stuck to him like corrupt growths. The room went quiet, and the Sentinel held his hands to his head, hunched over as though in a great deal of pain. Shockwave readily stepped forward, offering his hand.

"Sentinel, are you-"

U-Mos turned toward Shockwave, the eyes behind his visor glowing purple, and threw a burst of energy from one hand, looking like a black cloud that converged onto Shockwave and exploded, sending him stumbling back before falling to the floor. Soundwave pointed the resonance blaster toward the Sentinel, prompting a quiet response, sounding raspy and ill, but also furious and chaotic.

_ "Just... a second..." _

Soundwave didn't lower his arm, but watched as U-Mos stumbled over toward the device in the center of the room. He held his hand toward a glowing conduit, and slowly, his suit began to turn silver again, the dark growths across him shrinking. Finally, he stood upright, his armorsuit fading away into golden light. He lifted himself up off the floor, turning to float over toward Shockwave.

"I apologize for that."

With one hand, he lifted the scientist up off the floor, standing him up on his feet. Soundwave finally retracted the resonance blaster, letting his arm fall to his side. Thunder rolled by in the distance, and U-Mos glanced toward the three decepticons.

"Dark Samus, despite her name, is weak to dark energy. I had to use it in order to create a singularity to send her to a dimension that may or may not exist."

"... What?" Starscream mumbled. U-Mos continued as though he had not heard the seeker.

"I try not to use dark energy unless it's absolutely necessary because... it has the capacity to corrupt those who use it."

He glanced out through the hole in the ceiling, watching the rain outside.

"... So it's over. I can only assume Dark Samus will eventually return, but... the Luminoth are safe now."

He turned back to face the decepticons.

"All because of you."

Starscream stepped forward, holding his hands behind him.

"We've spent most of our lives at war... so we weren't entirely unprepared."

Shockwave replied a moment later.

"However, we did lose two ships in the process. I would suggest-"

With barely any warning, Megatron flew toward them, transforming to land on the other side of the room. Shockwave stepped forward to address him.

"My liege. The Sentinel successfully subdued Dark Samus."

The gladiator looked up at him, almost looking confused.

"She's dead?"

U-Mos held up his hands as he replied.

"Oh, no, she's immortal now, she likely can't be killed. I just sent her to... the place where the parallel world known as Dark Aether used to be. I don't know if that dimension even exists anymore."

Megatron looked toward him, clearly confused, but remaining silent. The Sentinel let out a brief sigh.

"It's a long story. In short, I expect the Dark Hunter to return eventually. But it might take a while."

Seeming to begrudgingly accept that answer, the gladiator glanced toward Soundwave.

"So the Triad and Apex are both destroyed?"

[I never saw the Apex hit the ground. It might be possible to salvage, at least.]

Megatron sighed, looking toward U-Mos.

"I hope you don't mind on us staying on Aether until we can fully repair our ships."

The Sentinel closed his eyes, smiling even without a visible mouth.

"You've saved this planet. You may stay here as long as you wish."

Shockwave looked back up at Megatron.

"I... no longer see the logic in rebuilding our ships, except to grant us the option to leave. But with Sanctum no longer a viable destination... I would suggest we merely stay here."

"Does this world have energon?"

U-Mos responded after a second.

"Caches, I'm certain. A Leviathan did impact this world once. I'm sure we can find a way to purify living phazon to your purpose."

Megatron hesitantly looked over at U-Mos, his gaze turning back to Shockwave after a moment.

"That decision does not need to be made now. Repairing our ships will take long enough as is, and I want to give us the option to leave Aether should we need to. But regardless, it seems as though we'll be stuck here for some time."

"In that case," U-Mos said, "I welcome you home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minichapter!  
> ... This wasn't supposed to be a minichapter. I don't know, I feel like I should apologize for this chapter, but I likely won't rewrite it because my rewrites, no matter if it's a sentence or a page, usually end up exactly like the first attempt, because the characters sorta act on their own, outside my control.
> 
> At least now I won't feel bad taking a bit of time to work on the last couple chapters. There's probably five left, at the absolute most. I once guessed I'd get to 120,000 words before this story was done, so I'll be a bit over.
> 
> And yes, this is going to get a sequel.


	33. Rain Shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK BITCHES  
> I'm sorry, you're not a bitch.  
> Really though, I've just been chilling, trying not to feel too bad about not updating. I've been spinning yarn, being generally unproductive, and I do weaving now too.  
> Unfortunately, I still don't feel 100% in the writing mode, but it always takes a bit to get into it. Hopefully once I forget about this chapter and read it again, it'll seem better.

Soundwave stood at the helm of the Alterium as it rested upon the ground, sitting comfortably in a forest clearing. He stared out through the main window, watching the rain as it streaked across what remained of the glass, distorting the view beyond in gently undulating waves. Bolts of lightning illuminated the sky, flashing in a snapshot of the thousands of droplets of rain that hung in the air. He watched the water as it collected into muddy puddles, seeped into the thirsty soil, dripped down off of the plants that stood beside the massive ship. Ancient looking trees loomed overhead, the rain collecting on their leaves, cascading down to the vines that climbed across their trunks, down to the shrubs that held firm in the gusty winds, to the delicate wildflowers that dotted the forest floor. All of the plants in the forest looked delighted by the rain, their leaves practically glowing a soft green.

Soundwave closed his eyes and let his hands fall to his sides as he focused on the sounds that poured in from outside. The soft static of the rain, the gentle rustling of leaves in the wind, the quiet dripping of rain into puddles, the faint purring of thunder from miles away. He could hear raindrops striking the hull of the ship in a metallic pattering, and the sounds of the wind as it rolled through, sometimes swaying the plants in a gentle caress, sometimes assaulting them with gusts of frigid air. The trees creaked above him as their branches moved with the wind, and Soundwave began to smile ever so faintly. The fighting was over, and he was still alive. This place was to be their home now, and it was beautiful. The sounds of a living world surrounded him, enveloped him in its simple joy.

Something touched the back of his shoulder, and he practically jumped up, startled at the fact that someone had approached him without his even noticing. He whipped around, backing into the helm console to find Megatron looking down at him. The gladiator momentarily seemed just as startled by Soundwave's reaction as he was, but his gaze turned calm as he spoke.

"You were... focused, I see."

Soundwave merely turned to look back out the window, and the gladiator rested a hand on his shoulder, his fingers just barely brushing against his neck.

"What of the Apex Sirion?"

[It landed on a plateau. It's only repairable if we take the immense time to rebuild it.]

"We have time, for once."

Soundwave tilted his head back, looking up at Megatron. The gladiator smiled in response, then looked away.

"Stop doing that."

Soundwave looked back outside, his aura conveying all the warmth and contentment he felt. Megatron's started to copy his after a few minutes, and for a time they merely watched the status reports come in on the console.

The other ships had all been battered between three fights and a difficult reentry, but all except the Apex Sirion would be able to take off again at a moment's notice. Only the ships that Soundwave never touched had made it through the battle alive. The thought struck him, and he struggled not to let traces of guilt bleed into his aura.

 

As the repairs that needed immediate attention were addressed, the ship fell silent, and Soundwave wandered through the halls of the Alterium, just letting his mind drift. After all, he could finally relax now. Well, sort of. Every broken monitor he passed cried out to him for attention, but that was fairly low on the priority list.

In his aimless wandering, he naturally found himself back in the lab, and naturally he found Shockwave there, surrounded by canisters of energon. The scientist seemed startled by Soundwave's entrance, tensing up and looking toward him as soon as the doors opened.

But as Soundwave stared into Shockwave's eye this time, something in his spark felt like it churned, thoughts both wonderful and awful racing through his mind in a split second. He stepped toward the scientist, who turned back to his work. Soundwave stopped just inches from him and closed his eyes, just basking in Shockwave's aura.

It was funny how even the scientist's mild annoyance was so calming to him.

Still he lingered, watching as Shockwave siphoned small quantities of energon from canisters into some type of testing device, until finally, he set down his tools and grabbed Soundwave by the shoulders, shoving him against a nearby wall. Merely by reflex, Soundwave grabbed his arms, trying to push him away. Shockwave stared straight into Soundwave's blank visor, his voice momentarily haunting.

"Stop. Lingering. When I'm trying to work."

His aura quieted, and his grip loosened. His hand drifted up, caressing the side of Soundwave's head as he spoke again, this time with a much calmer inflection.

"Please."

Soundwave, in turn, lightened his grip on Shockwave's arms.

[If  _ that's _ going to be your reaction each time, it's not much of a deterrent.]

The scientist let go and stepped away, his aura finally silencing.

"I'm sorry for that. I've been-"

As though in pain, Shockwave flinched, wrapping his arms around himself. Soundwave stepped forward, reaching toward him but hesitating, not wanting to touch him.

[What's wrong?]

"It's... It moves occasionally. It doesn't cause any pain, but I can no longer focus."

Soundwave relaxed, just watching Shockwave as his aura fumed with annoyance.

[That's it? It's that distressing?]

The scientist looked back toward him, sounding as though he was about to say something before stopping, taking a quiet breath, and letting his aura return to normal before speaking again.

"I would like to see you go through this and not end up equally infuriated."

[I'm... sure I would get just as annoyed. We're just... not meant to be parents.]

Shockwave let out a sigh as he returned to his work.

"I doubt she'll become less aggravating."

Soundwave tilted his head slightly.

[Why 'she'?]

"Ahh... I'm not certain. Something in her aura."

Shockwave paused again, looking over in Soundwave's general direction.

"She's started... reacting to things. Her aura recedes when mine becomes annoyed."

Soundwave remained silent, merely watching as the scientist returned to his work, although after a moment, his red eye glanced back toward him.

"Why are you still lingering?"

[Because...]

Shockwave stared at him for a moment, seemingly aggravated, but as Soundwave remained frozen, trying to think of what to say, the scientist's aura quieted again. Soundwave finally just stepped toward him, wrapping his arms around the scientist. Shockwave's aura soon turned receptive; warm and inviting and comfortable, and he returned the gesture.

And of course, underneath the interference of their two auras was a third, that belonging to their child. It was a very simple aura, not conveying any noticeable emotion, but as Soundwave and Shockwave's auras turned warm and affectionate, hers began to grow stronger, seeming almost to try and reach out to mingle with theirs.

Shockwave let out a quiet sigh.

"Naturally, she only reacts positively when you show up."

Soundwave hesitated before finally sending a message.

[I'm just glad you're still alive.]

They stepped away from each other after a moment, and Soundwave looked away, his thoughts racing as he sent another message.

[I do love you, you know.]

Shockwave's aura flared with static, like conflicting emotions and confusion all came through at once. He immediately suppressed his aura, trying to turn back to his work, but seeming to struggle to remember what exactly he'd been doing. He seemed restless as he tried to look busy, and he avoided looking toward the silent figure. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet and nervous.

"That... hardly... seems logical..."

Soundwave started to succumb to the nervousness as well, wandering over toward the computer terminal in the other corner of the room.

[Maybe I'm just deluded. Brain damage and all.]

"That's an... un... unfortunate... side effect."

Shockwave's voice had started becoming shaky, and Soundwave both felt bad for assaulting him with emotion, but also took some small amount of delight in seeing how adorably awkward the scientist had become. Granted, even he had started to grow restless as well.

[Oh, I don't know... sometimes I get so delusional that I start to think you might be reciprocating.]

Soundwave looked back toward the scientist upon noticing his aura flaring again, filled with the kind of awkward confusion he hated feeling. Shockwave remained at the nearby corner, facing away from the silent decepticon, just staring blankly into an energon canister.

"I... I don't... know... how to respond to that without..."

[You don't have to say anything. I just... wanted to say that at least once.]

"But I don't want to sound like I'm dismayed by that."

Soundwave looked back at the computer, trying to think of how to respond. Fortunately, Shockwave started muttering from across the room instead.

"I have, um... tests to run. Quality assessments... statistics... uhh..."

[I should leave you to your work then.]

"Yes... you might... accidentally... contaminate something."

[Let me know when you're done.]

"I... yes."

Soundwave shuffled out of the room, glancing once toward the scientist before the door shut behind him.

 

The storm system outside continued throughout the day, varying between gentle showers that almost let some sunlight through, to downpours that could be heard from inside the ships. Several luminoth had shown up to provide help if it was necessary, and so eventually Soundwave found himself alongside Megatron, Shockwave, and U-Mos, strolling through the ship, or in the Sentinel's case, floating.

"The Space Pirates once believed they owned this region of space," U-Mos said as they passed by another hull breach. "But they know better than to deal with us. They built bases here for their research, but we let them be."

"Why?" Megatron asked. "This is  _ your _ planet."

"A planet is not something that can be owned like property. A planet is a living thing, and in order to live in harmony with it, you must eventually return everything you take from it."

"That didn't answer my question."

U-Mos let out something of a sigh.

"In all honesty, I don't  _ care _ about the Pirates. I don't agree with what they do, but I'm not foolish enough to wage war on them like the Federation does. The Pirates are no allies of ours, but we had no reason to drive them away until they began siding with the Ing and allowing themselves to become possessed. They involved themselves in our war, and we had no choice but to retaliate."

Megatron shook his head slightly.

"You let them into your home. What did you expect?"

"I expected them to be smarter."

Shockwave chimed in after a moment.

"I mean no insult, Sentinel, but you imply that the luminoth are a pacifist, isolationist race, which would lead to the conclusion that the reasons for your difficulties in fighting the Ing were of your own creation."

U-Mos seemed unfazed by this, though he didn't look at Shockwave.

"It was no ordinary war. In political squabbles, you can sense the tension building, and you can prepare accordingly. We were attacked very suddenly, by beings we'd never encountered before, who came from an unknown world, wielding a corruption we did not understand. It is true that we do avoid most outside conflicts, but this was not what caused our trouble. Even the well-prepared Federation troops and the hyper-militarized Space Pirates were slaughtered by the Ing."

A crack of thunder could be heard outside, forceful enough to vibrate the ship slightly. U-Mos looked up at the overhead lights as they flickered.

"The Leviathan impact here caused a very sudden, devastating shift in the global climate. This area used to be a temperate forest, but has since been flooded by torrential rain. Conversely, the Agon desert used to be full of wonderful grasslands, but it receives so little rainfall now that hardly anything can live there. Even the storms that plague Torvus have become more severe."

No one had a response, so the group continued to stroll through the ship on something between a visitor tour and a shipwide damage survey. Soundwave made a note of every repair that needed to be made as he passed by, walking silently beside Shockwave, and once their path ended back on the bridge, Megatron spoke with U-Mos for some time about forming an official diplomatic alliance. Soundwave retreated to one of the computers on the bridge to start working on logging all the needed repairs, as did Shockwave return to whatever work he was doing, and so Soundwave only noticed when U-Mos left because of the groundbridge that was required.

Eventually he moved to work on one of the computers in the corner of the room, considering that Megatron had shot it out of anger for whatever reason. It wasn't the most impactful thing he could work on, but something about returning to mundane computer repair just felt right, like things had finally returned to normal.

As he worked, Soundwave listened to the storm; the quiet static of the rain, the gentle rolling of the thunder, the sound of leaves in the wind. Few vehicons lingered on the bridge at any given time, most of them avoiding him, speaking quietly when they did, leaving the room wonderfully calm. Even Megatron and Starscream were quieted by the storm as they spoke; they lingered on the floating platform, standing side by side, their voices barely even audible.

However, considering the lights in the room were still out, Soundwave was limited in how much he could do before the sun started to set. It was still possible to work for the moment, but the storm was gaining strength again, and he could tell that he didn't have much time left.

As he started trying to leave his progress for later, he could start to tell what Megatron and Starscream were talking about. Soundwave glanced back at them for a moment, having to look around a support beam to find them both staring out into the storm. Something about it was... suspicious. Starscream's voice was awfully melodic, his posture emanating pride as he spoke.

"No, I'm loyal to you...  _ most _ of the time."

Megatron's voice, on the other hand, was in the calm, soothing tone that could warm one's very soul.

"It was impressive though. Not everyone can go double agent like that."

"That's what I was  _ meant _ to do."

"Is it, now?"

"That and my flying."

"You're... awfully _ evasive _ in flight."

"Just means I'm  _ efficient. _ You value that, don't you?"

Soundwave continued attaching panels back onto the console temporarily, just to save his progress for later, when he noticed Megatron and Starscream growing quieter.

They couldn't be... They knew Soundwave was there... right?

He briefly looked around the room, noticing that no one else was there.

Oh Primus... they were under the mistaken assumption that they were alone.

Soundwave merely left the rest of his materials scattered and stood up, glancing around the support beam again to find Megatron looming over Starscream, the seeker backed against the main console, their hands drifting across each other, their silhouettes blending into one form as lightning flashed, bathing them in silver light for a split second before surrendering to darkness once more.

Oh goodness. Now he just had to leave without being noticed.

He set the thought aside as he turned to face toward the door and walked over as quietly as he could, trying to pretend he hadn't seen anything. After a moment, however, he noticed red out of the corner of his eye and looked over just in time for Starscream to notice him, letting out a startled shriek.

"What are  _ you _ doing here!?"

Confused, Megatron turned, looking startled until his gaze met Soundwave's, at which point his stare turned pensive.

Soundwave had always been aware of these... occurrences, ever since they had first met Starscream in Kaon. It was fairly obvious, and he was apathetic about it, but Soundwave and Megatron never acknowledged or mentioned it. Thus, the gladiator merely stared toward Soundwave with a look that held no shame, but silently begged for him to leave.

He looked toward Starscream, sending him a message.

[I've been here for three hours.]

"Yeah but... Ugh. You..."

Without another word, Soundwave turned to leave, followed at some distance by Starscream.

 

In the weeks that followed, decepticons and luminoth alike had begun to gather occasionally in the region known as the Temple Grounds, directly below the massive tower containing the Great Temple. The area was almost as dry as Agon, but that was more likely due to its high elevation than anything else. From the edges of the massive plateau, one could look out for miles toward the horizon, staring at the endless rainforest of Torvus, the sand dunes of Agon, or the Sanctuary Fortress in the distance, perched atop its own peak overlooking a large city. The area was beautiful either way, which explained the almost constant flow of people gathering by the entrances to the temple. Among the vehicons' chatter were references to particular luminoth, names of creatures, or traditions that varied between the cultures. The air always felt inviting, since it almost seemed as though the decepticons had found a new homeworld.

However, the vehicons had also seemed to take notice of the fact that Shockwave was carrying. They never mentioned it in any context Soundwave heard, but they had started leaving anonymous gifts by the door to the lab. These ranged from arrangements of Aetherian plants, to entire creatures preserved in formalin for him to study.

Admittedly, upon seeing these, Soundwave had retreated to the edge of Torvus, where the original forest biome still remained, and gathered collections of at least fourteen types of mushrooms to leave as another anonymous gift.

He walked alongside the scientist toward the lab when Shockwave finally noticed the day's collection of gifts.

"At least there is logic in these," he said almost begrudgingly. He glanced toward a canister of energon that had also been left by the door, and picked it up first, turning to Soundwave.

"This is royal energon."

[Really?]

No sooner had he asked that than he looked closer, noticing that the color of the energon was different from normal, looking like a slightly deeper blue with traces of indigo mixed within.

[That looks awful.]

Shockwave let out a quiet sound, as though dismissing the possibility. He picked up the other two preserved specimen containers, and Soundwave took the box of mushrooms as they stepped into the lab.

The scientist glanced momentarily toward the mushrooms before looking back at the energon he held. Despite how much he tried to hide it, Soundwave could sense a vague excitement radiating from Shockwave. After all, this was basically his dream, wasn't it? People bringing him more samples of organic life than he could study in one day?

Shockwave, seemingly hesitantly, opened the container of energon, but merely stared at it for a moment, and so Soundwave spoke instead.

[How do they make that?]

"I don't know."

[You... don't know and you're still going to drink it?]

"There is no logical reason that this energon would possess any detrimental effects. I do know that this substance used to be produced by individual insecticons, in glands on either side of the mouth. But modern insecticons no longer possess these glands. I imagine the modern process involves culturing very specific microbes."

[It's... fermented? That's disgusting.]

"Like I said, I don't know the details of the process. I only have my hypotheses."

With that, he finally took a drink of the strange colored substance, finding it quite a bit thicker than regular energon. Shockwave set down the canister, holding his hand to his face as he coughed momentarily. Soundwave tilted his head as he sent a message.

[Is it as awful as it sounds?]

Shockwave took a full breath, picking up the canister again.

"No, it's... it's not bad, but it's like... a pretentious celebration of all corporeal desires, all in a single substance."

[... Like  _ what? _ ]

"I don't even know how to attempt to describe it."

Shockwave took another drink, consuming just slightly more than his first taste. It took a moment for him to continue.

"It is every taste at once, without clashing, in a way that resembles the type of thing one would drink even if it killed them."

Soundwave merely remained silent, and so the scientist took yet another drink and continued.

"It tastes as though it's trying to emulate the very concept of taste itself. As if... all taste had been an illusion until now and this is merely the first substance to have  _ real _ taste."

[Is that laced with syk!?]

"It does contain negligible quantities of beta-mesotropinoids, but not enough to cause a noticeable narcosis."

[ _ There _ you are. I was afraid you'd gone insane.]

"I really don't know how to describe this energon in a succinct manner."

Shockwave held out the canister toward Soundwave, who merely stared at it for a moment before taking it. He gazed into the thick liquid, watching swirls of color refusing to mix together, looking like the sheen of oil. It looked disgusting, but he hesitantly lifted up his visor and took a sip.

Somehow, everything Shockwave had said suddenly made sense. The energon was sweet and cheerful, practically exploding in its mere... intensity. It wanted to be known, and it wanted to share its unbridled joy with whomever consumed it. The syrupy substance was difficult to swallow, but it was almost more like drinking an emotion than a taste, and it was appropriately bizarre. Soundwave set the canister on the table, backing away from it.

[That was the strangest thing I've ever tasted. Are you sure we're not both hallucinating or something?]

Shockwave seemed to waste no time in taking another drink before responding.

"Even if there are hallucinogenic substances in this, they would never take effect this rapidly."

[Fumes?]

"The effect would be rapid but there would need to be an extremely high quantity."

[That stuff is not normal.]

Shockwave held a hand to his head, turning to the counter as he leaned against it.

"You're... going to cause me to have psychosomatic symptoms now..."

[Seriously, there's something weird in that stuff.]

Shockwave remained silent, though his aura had turned to one of warmth and affection; something that made Soundwave more suspicious than it should have. The scientist looked toward him briefly before grabbing the canister once more just to look at it, muttering a moment later.

"... At least they're pleasant psychosomatic symptoms."

[You really should have studied what was in that before you drank it.]

"The only possibility for chemical intoxication would be through substances that affect chordates differently than insecticons. That could... include a variety of synthesized hormones, which would make sense given the purpose of this substance."

Shockwave looked over at the other objects on the table, stepping over and gravitating toward the box filled with mushrooms, his aura practically glowing with delight.

"No vehicon would spend the hours necessary to collect this many samples of this many mushrooms. You did this, didn't you?"

[... Yes.]

"You didn't even want acknowledgement for it. You spent your own time and effort just to provide positive enrichment to my day. It was an entirely selfless gesture."

[Are you okay?]

Shockwave finally looked back toward him, then over at the energon canister.

"I... may be affected by something in the energon."

[That's what I thought.]

"I will... do a full chemical analysis of it. But not... right now."

[Thank you.]

Shockwave closed the canister of energon, placing it beside the preserved creatures, and finally walked out of the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Superchapter...?  
> Uhh... what the hell was this? Am I on whatever Shockwave's drinking? What the heck just happened?  
> Do I need to rewrite this or am I way overreacting? I can't tell. I'm honestly super confused right now.


	34. Settlement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I probably would have posted earlier, but I was dealing with anxiety again. Not about writing though. You guys are all great.

Shockwave's later experimentation revealed that the energon in question contained a variety of mildly psychoactive components, but that the effects would quickly diminish with tolerance. So, despite Soundwave's protests, he continued drinking the royal energon, although he started with small doses and gradually increased the amount until he was exclusively consuming the insecticons' bizarre cocktail.

Over time, as the decepticons began to settle once again into their life of ship repair, the ships started to feel like their towns; small communities living mostly independently, connected by the Temple Grounds. And as the Alterium began to sink into the mud, Soundwave finally started getting used to residing there.

As was frequent now, he walked alongside Shockwave through the Torvus Bog, strolling silently across the now well-worn path toward Temple Grounds. Both focused on the life teeming within the forest, whether it was the birds that hid among the trees, or the few plants in the swamp that responded to threats by exploding, as counterintuitive as it seemed.

Shockwave was, of course, as overjoyed as he could be about the sheer amount of subjects he now had to study. He never acted like it, unless he was under the effects of whatever was in that royal energon, but Soundwave saw it in the way the scientist came to him with discoveries, from the unique abilities of the grenchlers, to the plants that somehow possessed the ability to cloak themselves and fire blasts of sound. Aether was certainly a place worthy of his study.

As the two began to approach the Temple Grounds, they came across a luminoth standing beside a large tree, holding a wooden stick in one hand with what looked like a cloud of fluff tied around it. In her other hand was a smaller stick that held thread wrapped around it. She flicked the end, letting it spin as she pulled on a thread connecting the smaller object to the bunch of fluff in her other hand, drawing out more thread from the fluff itself. As they approached her, she seemed not to notice, merely continuing as she stood leaned against the tree. Finally she looked over at them, and Shockwave spoke.

"What are you doing?"

She seemed hesitant to speak, but finally she focused back on her work and replied.

"I'm spinning yarn."

Shockwave looked over at Soundwave for a moment, his aura feeling very confused.

"Do you not have industrialized methods for creating yarn?"

The luminoth froze, grabbing abruptly onto the spinning object to stop it.

"We do," she said. "But dependency on any technology can be addictive. The Chozo of Tallon IV learned to balance their technology with the basic skills of artisans using the natural world as it was meant to be used... they worked with their land rather than enslaving it with machines."

"I fail to see the logic in this."

"If you are machines, perhaps you cannot understand. But the Tallon Chozo gained enlightenment through their surrender of technology, and managed to ascend to another plane of existence. If you believe in that sort of thing. It's hard to tell what exactly happened to them, but some of their last writings talk about pulling back the veil of time and gaining true understanding."

Shockwave merely stared at her for a moment, and she finally looked up at him.

"I spin yarn because it is an art of creation, and because there is a humbleness that comes from relinquishing your conveniences."

"Yet the luminoth still possess advanced technology, so you have not completely surrendered it."

"The point isn't to throw away science. The point is to..."

She trailed off, returning to her spinning for a moment before finding her words again.

"The point is that all civilizations function through symbiosis with the lands they live on."

"U-Mos mentioned a similar concept," Shockwave interjected.

"Right. Technological advances allow you to take resources more efficiently and shape the land to your needs. However, there is a certain amount of arrogance in assuming you have the right to change the natural world. The land gives freely, but taking more than it can give destroys it over time. The Space Pirates live on a planet so horribly scarred and abused that hardly anything grows there anymore. Most of the planet has been replaced with a metal fortress, and now the rain is so toxic that they had to develop energy shielding because it can corrode through metal armor within seconds. The ability to control one's environment should be considered a privilege, not a right."

Soundwave could tell that Shockwave was still confused as to the underlying point, but he merely shook his head toward the scientist, trying to keep him from saying anything offensive. Shockwave seemed to understand, looking back toward the luminoth a moment later.

"Why are you all the way out here?"

"I could ask you the same. Torvus is quite pleasant on the days when it's not raining buckets on you."

"That is true."

 

Upon finally reaching the Temple Grounds, Soundwave and Shockwave arrived to find Starscream looking out over one of the cliffs beside Knockout. The seeker held his hands behind him, talking quietly with the medic about something when he heard the other two approach, and turned for a moment to face them.

"Don't you have stuff to do?"

Considering Shockwave remained silent, Soundwave merely replayed what he'd just heard.

["Don't you have stuff to do?"]

Starscream's eyes narrowed.

"I'm not used to having free time. I keep feeling like there's  _ something _ I'm forgetting to do."

Knockout turned to face the other two finally, crossing his arms as he let out a laugh.

"Yeah, exactly. I'm going to have to go back to detail work just to fill the time."

The seeker glanced back at him.

"You did the work on Steelwing's markings, right?"

"Yeah, but I hadn't done any paint stuff in a while. It doesn't look as good as I'd like."

"But now he looks better than any of us. Well..."

Starscream seemed to scan Knockout for a moment before continuing in a begrudged voice.

" _ Except you. _ "

The medic smirked.

"That sounded like it hurt to say. You know, I said I'd be happy to touch up your...  _ less  _ than ideal finish if you wanted."

"I'm fine with silver."

"You're more of a boring stone gray."

"And you're the color of vanity."

Soundwave and Shockwave started to drift away from the other two, looking out over the same ledge, but merely standing side by side in silence. The air would have been tranquil and silent were it not for Starscream and Knockout's playful bickering, but it was clear they weren't truly arguing, so it wasn't too much of a distraction. After a minute, Soundwave heard Knockout step toward him, and he looked over as the medic spoke.

"Can you bridge me back to the Javelin? They're asking me about... construction plans or whatever. They suck at asking this sort of thing."

Without another word, a groundbridge appeared behind Knockout, and Soundwave looked away. Hesitantly, the medic lingered for a second before walking away.

"Thanks."

As the bridge closed, the air was filled with silence finally, at least until Starscream awkwardly meandered toward them. The seeker remained quiet, merely standing beside Soundwave, looking out into the distance as he did, but his aura was restless, hiding something. Finally, he turned to look at the other two and spoke.

"Do you ever actually...  _ talk _ to each other?"

Soundwave replied after a moment.

[Sometimes.]

"And... you're both just... okay with that?"

[Yeah.]

The air went silent again, and Soundwave could tell that Starscream was made uncomfortable by it. He fidgeted, his aura crying out with a need to interact. After a minute of this, the need clearly overtook him, and he turned back to Soundwave and Shockwave, his voice quieter than normal.

"So... what are you going to name the kid?"

The scientist seemed as though he hadn't heard the question at all, but Soundwave grew uneasy as he replied.

[I... honestly had not considered that.]

"... Really? You- well, it's not like you talk about these things, is it."

[This is a strange situation. So no, not really.]

Shockwave glanced over at Soundwave, his aura becoming just slightly uncomfortable. Starscream continued in spite of this.

"I still can't understand why you, of all people, would voluntarily have a child."

Shockwave finally replied before Soundwave could.

"If your insatiable curiosity must be quenched, I would have died from my injuries when I crashed here were it not for the fact that her spark kept mine from fading. I had no intention of keeping her until I learned this."

"That makes more sense. So, that extra energon you were getting during the shortage was..."

"Due to the fact that I did not have the means to terminate it at the time."

"I see... So you really  _ haven't _ thought of names then."

Soundwave replied even as he stared off into the desert on the horizon.

[I wouldn't know where to start.]

Starscream went silent for a moment, then glanced back toward Soundwave, shrugging.

"Just... name it Aftershock and be done with it."

Soundwave was about to protest the discussion, but he and Shockwave stared at each other for a moment, realizing that it was actually a good name. The seeker crossed his arms, leaning back to rest his weight on one leg.

"You're welcome."

Soundwave looked back toward the seeker, just watching him for a moment. Starscream seemed to expect him to say something, and so grew ever so slightly tense in the silence that followed.

"... What?"

[I'm... just wondering why you and the vehicons care.]

Starscream was quiet for a moment, the white irises in his red eyes shifting ever so slightly as he stared toward Soundwave for a second. Maintaining his aloof posture, he glanced back toward the horizon.

"Well, decepticons haven't been allowed to have children. I don't think there are even any children in our whole species at the moment. I always hated kids, but this is an... interesting situation you've created."

The seeker glanced back toward the other two, smirking.

"Megatron claims he's 'ambivalent', but I get the sense that he's just as curious about this as the vehicons are."

Soundwave smiled faintly behind his visor.

[I got that sense too. He doesn't want to talk about it, but he wants to know about it.]

The scientist looked over at the seeker.

"Why did he implement that rule in the first place?"

"Logistics," Starscream replied. "You can't be fighting a war with kids running around, can you? That's why the autobots and their human pets always... baffled me. They're so... weak and useless, and yet the autobots insisted on keeping them around."

Soundwave couldn't help himself.

[Weak and useless except for when Miko-]

Starscream turned to Soundwave, his aura flaring in disgust as he held a talon to his visor.

_ "Don't." _

[The Apex Armor  _ is  _ quite formidable.]

_ "I said don't!" _

Soundwave smiled, calming his aura into one of serenity. And, just as always, Starscream's soon followed. The seeker crossed his arms, letting out an annoyed growl as he looked back off into the distance. After a minute of tranquility, however, something strange permeated his aura, like a mixture of emotions, and Soundwave looked over to find the seeker merely staring up into the sky. Feeling the silent stare weighing on him, he turned to look at Soundwave.

"You know... we don't have to hide anymore. Not from humans, or autobots... or space pirates."

Starscream's aura started to fill with a joyous excitement, and he smiled up toward the clouds as he spoke.

"I never thought about it, but there's nothing stopping me from flying just... to fly."

The seeker straightened his posture, then stepped up to the cliff ledge, turning around to face Soundwave and Shockwave.

"In which case..."

He crouched down slightly, then jumped backward, doing a backflip off of the cliff. Soundwave took a step toward the ledge to watch as the seeker transformed in midair, his engine roaring as the silver jet shot straight upward from his fall, spinning through the air and soaring into the clouds.

Soundwave retreated back toward Shockwave to stand beside him, reaching over after a moment to take his hand. This time, there was hardly any hesitation; from Soundwave, or from Shockwave in his response. They both stared up at Starscream in the distance, watching him race through the late morning sky, twirling and turning and maneuvering in ways that looked effortless, yet were also probably forceful enough to break anyone else's wings from the force loading were they to try and imitate him. Soundwave sent a message to Shockwave after a moment.

[You know he had to practice that jump too.]

"That seems like an incredible waste of his time."

Nonetheless, they wasted their own time, standing there watching Starscream. After a minute, the seeker abruptly stopped his joyful aerobatics and shot off toward the swamp, a small shockwave appearing around him as he broke the sound barrier. The reason became evident once the sound of a second engine filled the air, and Soundwave glanced over to find Megatron flying after the seeker. The two raced off in their chase for a minute, until Starscream finally turned, pulling upward and off to one side. Megatron seemed to follow, but given that he was some distance behind the seeker, his turn allowed him to gradually catch up to Starscream. Though it was difficult to see what they were doing off in the distance, it seemed as though they flew alongside one another for a few moments before breaking off into aerobatics once again, with Megatron seemingly trying to catch the seeker, or at least hit him with well-placed shots from his cannon. The two started moving their chase back over toward the Temple Grounds, and soon it became clear that Megatron was simply enjoying his time as well, making more of an effort to copy Starscream's maneuvers than he usually did. After a minute, Soundwave received a radio message from the gladiator.

"I see you."

The tone of his voice was almost taunting, and Soundwave abruptly straightened his posture, his aura flashing with uneasiness as he pulled his hand away from Shockwave's. The scientist was more ambivalent than he would have expected, though by default, his aura disappeared in response to Megatron, whose voice came through the comm link again a moment later.

"I saw that too."

[Don't you have a seeker to catch?]

Starscream's voice replied, laden with his visible alacrity.

"No one can catch a seeker!"

And so, the two silver jets wove around clouds and traded occasional shots of low-powered gunfire, probably as a way to pass this off as 'training' rather than what was evident; they were both simply happy enough to spend their morning flying for the sake of flying. And it was true what Starscream had said. Now that they had no reason to be stealthy, Aether had granted them a new type of freedom, one that most decepticons seemed unsure of how to use.

 

As the months passed, these decepticons started to make use of their freedom. In between the normal duties relating to ship repair, some had turned to art, painting murals reminiscent of the political graffiti in Kaon. Some found other niches, like the couple of vehicons who set off to prospect for natural resources beyond the horizon, or those that helped the luminoth with their farms. Soundwave was merely content to settle back into the routine of computer repair, spending hours working alongside Shockwave in silence.

In those months, the fact that the scientist was carrying had also started to become visible. It wasn't terribly obvious to those who didn't see him much, but to the few people who regularly interacted with him, it was something they had to have noticed, but didn't dare mention. As a result, Shockwave tended to stay even more isolated than Soundwave, given that he rarely needed to leave the lab. He simply worked on his research, perfectly happy to stay a recluse if it meant he was free to choose his own projects.

 

But, the luminoth's new year celebration was reason enough to leave the confines of the ship, and so the decepticons all gathered in the Temple Grounds alongside the luminoth. The sun was still up when Soundwave and Shockwave arrived, and yet there were already several vehicons who were visibly drunk. The luminoth, rather than drinking energon, naturally, drank from an assortment of what looked like tea or nectar, considering they were still the descendants of moths. The overcast sky colored the world a beautiful sepia as the sunset started to approach.

Barely two minutes passed since their arrival, than A-Scl approached Shockwave alongside a second luminoth. Her hands fidgeted as she stared up at the scientist.

"Hey, Shockwave..." she mumbled. "How come you don't visit anymore? I mean, Ratchet's been asking about our technology but he's... kind of..."

"Aversive?" Shockwave replied. The luminoth laughed in response.

"Yeah, that's one way to put it."

"I've had much to study and little reason to leave my lab."

The luminoth beside A-Scl glanced between Soundwave and Shockwave for a moment before speaking to the scientist.

"So you're the one A-Scl won't shut up about."

Shockwave's aura turned slightly confused, and A-Scl interjected.

"Hey, I like robots, okay?"

She turned back to Shockwave, gesturing to the other luminoth.

"Right, this is my husband D-Scl."

"You pair bond?" the scientist asked.

"You sound surprised by that. I thought you and Soundwave..."

They glanced at each other, and Soundwave struggled not to let his slight embarrassment show in his aura. Though, it seemed as though Shockwave was doing the same thing as he replied.

"What have you been told and who told you?"

A-Scl seemed to recoil slightly, her antennae drifting back. D-Scl merely responded by holding a hand to the back of her shoulder as she finally replied.

"Uhh... V-Lor told me that K-Rel told her that a vehicon told him that you guys were... do you have an equivalent to marriage?"

"We do, but we are not conjunx."

"Oh..."

 

The awkward silence that followed was interrupted as a sound caught the crowd's attention, and they all looked toward U-Mos, who floated off the ground, holding a hand up into the air. As the idle chatter quieted, the Sentinel spoke gesturing toward the decepticons.

"As the end of our year approaches, I'd just like to acknowledge one of the blessings we received this year, namely the decepticons, and by their presence, the very fact that we are all still alive!"

Some of the luminoth responded with quiet affirmations, others hesitating due to the awkward phrasing of that statement. Nonetheless, U-Mos continued.

"Let us strengthen this alliance in the next year. Now then..."

He turned to face the sunset, as did everyone else in the crowd. The air was all but silent as the golden sun descended beyond the horizon, and just as the last sliver faded away, the crowd all began cheering. Several luminoth lifted themselves off the ground just as U-Mos did, holding their hands up and creating raining orbs of light to drift down and fade away. The Sentinel in particular held both his hands to the sky, conjuring lightning that sparked across his arms, flashing a variety of colors. Among the cheering, several vehicons started shooting gunfire into the sky, just as a couple luminoth shot flares upward. Shockwave looked down at A-Scl, catching her attention as he spoke.

"You consider the day to begin at sunset?"

"Huh? No, the day begins at sunrise. But in the traditional calendar, nighttime wasn't counted at all, so the old year ended at sunset, and the new year started at the next sunrise. The night in between wasn't counted in either year, so it's like... the limbo state where you can indulge without ruining either year."

"... Interesting."

 

As was typical of gatherings such as these, Soundwave and Shockwave retreated to the periphery of the crowd, staying together and watching everyone else as they mingled. It was strange how they had sought to conquer the humans of earth, yet they seemed to get along so well with the luminoth. Perhaps it had to do with their similar levels of technology, or perhaps the decepticons had simply changed their goals. Either way, it was heartening to see the two groups interacting as effortlessly as they did.

As the light faded from the sky, the grounds were instead lit by floating orbs that hovered over the area, radiating a comforting silver glow. Shockwave continued talking to A-Scl and her husband, but Soundwave at some point slipped away, not trying to evade Shockwave, but rather seeking Megatron instead. The gladiator stood beside Ratchet, staring out toward the receding light on the horizon. As Soundwave approached, the autobot seemed as standoffish as usual, but his aura was nonetheless content. Megatron looked over as Ratchet continued a thought he'd been in the middle of saying.

"So it's confusing. I'm not sure what's different now."

Megatron briefly met Soundwave's gaze before replying.

"Many things are different.  _ I'm _ different. Cybertron is alive. The autobot council wants to rule over it."

" _ That's _ not different at all."

"Well, yes, that's true."

Soundwave glanced toward Ratchet.

[I think the difference was that the autobots started building a city rather than a base. They make it seem like they want to be done with war.]

The autobot shrugged as he stared out into the distance.

"And I would have been  _ fine _ with an autobot city, so long as you kept to your city, and the council wasn't ruling ours."

The gladiator looked down at him, and seemed to hesitate before finally saying what he wanted to say.

"If I can ask you this... do you still consider yourself an autobot?"

Ratchet stared blankly off into the distance, clearly trying and failing to keep fragments of despair and rage from bleeding into his aura. He looked down at the autobot insignia on his chest, and held a hand to it.

"I... I don't know. To me, being an autobot means... valuing peace... having a moral standard you uphold. But now... if being an autobot now just means loyalty to the council, then..."

He let out a sigh, then dug in with his fingers, actually prying off the metal symbol from his chest. He held the object in his hand for a minute, his aura burning with solemn conflict, before finally throwing the insignia over the cliff's edge. Megatron seemed stunned by this, watching him intently with widened eyes. Ratchet finally backed away from the cliff, speaking again.

"... Then I'm no autobot."

The medic glanced over at Megatron for a moment before looking back into the distance.

"Before you ask, I'm not ready to call myself a decepticon or anything like that."

"I know better than to ask something that pointed and point _ less _ ."

Soundwave spoke after a moment.

[These labels are much harder to define now. On the one hand, I want the war to be over and for everyone to begrudgingly coexist, and yet on the other hand, the council still wants us dead, and I want to kill them.]

Ratchet looked back toward him as he replied.

"I don't understand how they can call themselves autobots. As you said... 'till all are none'."

Megatron smiled even as he looked off toward the remainder of the sunlight.

"That's a good phrase, I like that."

Ratchet turned around after a moment, watching the luminoth and the decepticons mingling. Soundwave turned as well, glancing over to find a hint of a smile appearing on the autobot's face. Noticing this, he let out something of a forced laugh.

"Ahh... I know I shouldn't... bring everyone down by talking about politics."

"Nonsense," Megatron replied. "Your views are interesting now that there's no threat of dying over them. It's like talking to an old friend."

In an instant, the contentment disappeared from Ratchet's face, and he turned away.

"Don't call me that."

The autobot shuffled away, and Megatron looked toward Soundwave with confusion in his aura.

"What? What was that?"

Soundwave merely shrugged.

 

He lingered around Megatron for some time, watching as the celebration turned simply delightful. The luminoth had started dancing to music that came from... somewhere. The light from the sun faded, and the dim lights of the party allowed the stars above to still be visible in the clear night sky. A crisp breeze occasionally blew through, leaving the atmosphere perfect. Soundwave didn't dare drink any high grade this time, and it seemed Ratchet tried to at least reduce the amount he drank. The luminoth seemed to have their own indulgence, namely in the form of a golden nectar they consumed in very small doses. The effects seemed similar to high grade; they first grew relaxed, then gradually lost motor control. Soundwave noted that even U-Mos drank some of the nectar, spending most of his time alongside a woman with striking sapphire colored eyes. Nothing else about her really seemed notable, except for the fact that Soundwave had not seen her before, and that the Sentinel seemed to love her presence. He practically glowed with what could only be perceived as joy, and he seemed never to touch the ground, constantly floating beside the mysterious luminoth.

After some time merely listening to the music and watching the gathering, Soundwave retreated back toward the cliff's edge, where Shockwave stood, staring up at the rising moon. The scientist acknowledged his appearance with his aura, which faded to a delightful, inviting warmth. As Soundwave drew close, he could start to feel Aftershock's aura as well, so named because they couldn't think of anything better. She seemed to recognize Soundwave, her aura usually growing slightly stronger in his presence. Now, as it did so, it also contained a vague sense of happiness, still slightly primitive compared to the minutia of the auras of grown individuals, but it was nonetheless a strange thing to feel. He was communicating with a person who didn't yet exist.

Soundwave looked over toward the scientist.

[Have you been standing here waiting to leave?]

"Not exactly. But I did not want to leave without you."

Soundwave smiled slightly behind his visor, and Shockwave turned to him as he spoke.

"Do you wish to retreat?"

The scientist held out his hand toward Soundwave, who remained silent as he took it. Without another word, the two walked back down the path leading to the Alterium, hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to mention yarn spinning because I spin yarn. I'm assuming that luminoth spin using a distaff because who in their right mind would spin yarn without one!? (Use of a distaff is actually incredibly uncommon for some bizarre reason.)
> 
> I also assume that the vehicons gossip about literally anything interesting.
> 
> And HOLY SHIT I've been waiting forever to use the name Aftershock. I have a drawing of her that I did BEFORE I even started writing this story, and yet because of spoiler protection I couldn't show anyone the drawing, or mention her existence, or even say her name because I figured it was really obvious. There are still a few details classified by spoiler protection, but oh my GOD it's relieving to be able to even say her name.  
> I love the idea of Soundwave and Shockwave using a name that Starscream came up with only because they have no imagination and cannot think of anything better.
> 
> I'm so close to being done, seriously. After that I might take a break or something.
> 
> Edit: In case you're wondering how Temple Grounds has such nice cliffs: http://xenargon.tumblr.com/post/175627797084/i-love-the-cliffside-views-in-echoes  
> (The second one is from Sanctuary Fortress but the first one is actually from Temple Grounds overlooking Torvus.)


	35. Addition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I just sat down and wrote all this in one session.

It was a cool winter morning when A-Scl led Soundwave, Shockwave, U-Mos and another luminoth through the halls of Sanctuary Fortress, showing them a new system of surveillance devices, communication relays, and energon processing devices. The Fortress itself was filled to the brim with gorgeous pieces of luminoth technology, glowing a soft green that reflected off the dull silver walls. Machines all around them worked quietly, rarely emitting more than a low hum. However, it lacked much in the way of air conditioning, so whatever rooms weren't warmed by the delightful machine exhaust remained as cold as the outside air. As a result, the luminoth all wore shawls or cloaks draped around them.

Soundwave had been working on more permanent links to the luminoth's computer systems, so he'd spent quite some time with A-Scl. She seemed to be put off by his lack of speech, but then again, she seemed perpetually nervous and awkward around the decepticons. The thing that caught his attention was more the fact that he recognized the third luminoth; introduced as J-Syr, she'd been the one with the striking blue eyes that U-Mos had spent all his time with at the new year's party.

A-Scl continued through the hallways, occasionally turning around to walk backward as she gestured to some of the machines around her.

"So these machines can hopefully be used for phazon purification, at least once Shockwave develops his synthetic dark energon formula. Then we can look at building generators solely for purification purposes."

U-Mos, who naturally floated slightly off the ground, kept to J-Syr's side as he looked around.

"I imagine this would be a process the rest of the galaxy would want to know about."

He gestured toward Shockwave as he continued.

"Of course, if you can synthesize raw phazon, _that_ is a process the Pirates would want to know about. Something you must keep hidden."

Shockwave replied in turn.

"I admit I do not fully understand the process. The knowledge came from prior eras, and I highly doubt the Space Pirates would have the infrastructure to decipher or replicate the process."

"Well, that's fortunate, at least. But I would not bet on their ignorance."

"Of course."

A-Scl stopped, holding a hologram in one hand as she interacted with it using the other.

"I've also got Quadraxis's mainframe back to normal. He can go back to surveillance and defense next week."

J-Syr looked toward the other luminoth, muttering after a moment.

"... He?"

A-Scl let out an awkward laugh, but she smiled with sincerity.

"I... I like robots, okay?"

"I guess that's why you're the head roboticist."

"Yeah..."

A-Scl dissolved her hologram, holding her arms out for a second.

"Well, that's all I had to show you. I'll keep working on the communication relays, but especially around Torvus, we might just need to lay cable down. The interference is really bad."

"Thank you," U-Mos replied. "I'll ask some of the builders to survey the area and see what that would require if we need to place cables."

He turned toward Soundwave and Shockwave.

"How much has your ship sunk into the mud?"

Soundwave replayed a recording of the scientist.

["2.7 meters"]

The Sentinel seemed concerned as he replied.

"Oh, wow, that's rapid. Can you maybe move it to somewhere drier?"

Shockwave responded after a second.

"The settlement has slowed, and there are few ill effects, so I do not believe the effort to be necessary."

"You sure?"

"We do not intend to leave any time soon. There is little reason to make the effort."

The group looked over at a quad mech as it strode by, keeping its gaze fixed on them. A-Scl went so far as to wave to it, smiling, and J-Syr looked over toward her.

"You really do like robots."

U-Mos smiled, his antennae drifting back just slightly. The chocolate-colored shawl wrapped around him covered his arms and his wings, leaving his face as the only indication of his mood.

"Well, thank you, A-Scl. Let me know what you decide with the communication relays."

"Right. I will, Sentinel."

U-Mos turned to look toward J-Syr, and his antennae perked up just slightly.

"Were you doing anything else today?"

The woman's sapphire eyes looked surprised as they met his.

"What? Sentinel, you don't-"

"You don't have to call me Sentinel."

A-Scl seemed to react to this, her head tilting slightly in confusion, listening as J-Syr replied.

"Ah, the only thing I really had to do today was to check the irrigation."

"Would you mind taking me with you?"

"To my farm?"

"Sure."

J-Syr seemed hesitant to respond, glancing around for a moment, but she nonetheless seemed happy as she replied.

"Ahh... alright, I guess. Not sure that a snowthorn vineyard is the most interesting place you could visit."

"Well... it's more interesting than the Great Temple."

J-Syr lingered awkwardly for a moment, fidgeting with her hands before starting to walk away. U-Mos started to follow, looking back toward the others.

"Shockwave, Soundwave, I'll see you later."

A-Scl watched them leave before turning to look up toward the decepticons.

"He seems to like her... I've never seen her before... Can I help you work on your dark energon thing?"

Shockwave looked down at her, his aura becoming confused for a second.

"A synthetic dark energon formula will be Ratchet's project more than mine."

"Oh..."

She sounded dismayed, and the scientist's aura turned just slightly amused.

"There will be other projects to collaborate on."

"Right."

"We should return to Torvus."

"Yeah, go ahead. I might visit, though, it's damn cold up here. Being cold blooded sucks during winter. But the generator exhaust is so nice..."

She turned to a metal grate, holding out her arms to almost hug the wall, the slight draft of warm air visible in her teal cloak.

 

The days that followed didn't get much warmer. In Torvus the temperature remained warmer than in other regions, but the rain was still frigid after its fall from the freezing sky.

It was not much longer after that that Aftershock was finally born.

Soundwave hadn't even noticed anything was amiss until Megatron noted that Shockwave had been absent for most of the day, at which point he tracked the scientist to his quarters and found him curled up on the floor. He had never seen Shockwave as genuinely terrified as he was then, and so he stayed beside him, despite his protests.

Upon holding Aftershock for the first time, however, Soundwave abruptly began to understand Shockwave's terror. He was in no way prepared for anything like this, and yet here he held a being which depended entirely on him. He had no idea what to do, but suddenly he realized that his whole life had irreversibly changed.

Aftershock herself was nothing more than a tiny white form, possessing few solid armor plates yet. Purple eyes matching the color of Soundwave and Shockwave's lights opened, looking around at her surroundings as tiny hands twitched, as though moving for the first time. White antennae protruding from the sides of her head perked upright as Soundwave stared at her, frozen in shock. However, another appendage caught his attention, and even Shockwave watched intently as a tail unfurled from the small form, swishing about, ending with something looking like a stinger, though no part of it was actually sharp enough to penetrate metal. Soundwave remained frozen, unable to speak, but Shockwave finally seemed to have returned to his neutral state as he spoke instead.

"She's a... pure chelicerate."

Aftershock's captivating eyes looked over toward Shockwave, and she started to reach out toward him. After a moment, Soundwave finally handed the small form to the scientist, but he still seemed emotionless, even as he stared down at her, eliciting a quiet, happy squeak from the infant. For a moment, he glanced at Soundwave.

"I... feel nothing."

[I don't know that I expected anything else.]

Shockwave laid down in his bed, holding Aftershock beside him, though he quickly went limp solely from fatigue. Soundwave followed, lying next to him, facing him and holding one hand to gently stroke Aftershock's head. Her aura turned delighted, and her eyes closed in a joyous smile. Shockwave spoke after a moment, his voice sounding just as fatigued as would be expected.

"I should feel something, but I don't."

[It makes sense.]

The scientist stared at him for a moment, prompting him to continue.

[You don't know who she is yet. I don't know, she could turn out to be a jerk.]

Shockwave's aura became just slightly amused.

"I would blame that on you."

[Naturally.]

Soundwave grabbed Aftershock's tail to look at it, and after a second she responded by reaching her hands down toward it, trying to take it back. He let go, and she pulled her tail up toward her, seemingly unconsciously, given that she seemed surprised by it. She struggled to catch her tail, but once she did, she grabbed onto it and fit the stinger into her mouth.

Shockwave's aura quieted as he started to fall asleep, considering he'd been up for just over a full day, and Soundwave stared at the white form resting between them.

He didn't even know if this was still something he wanted, but now he had no choice. She was here, and she was admittedly adorable, but she was also a commitment he was not prepared for.

 

In the following weeks, they tried to continue their work as though nothing had changed, but it was impossible. Aftershock called for a gratuitous amount of attention, so they ended up confined to the lab most days. Shockwave tried to continue his projects, but he seemed sullen, as though he'd made a terrible mistake in ever having her in the first place.

Soundwave worked on resoldering some faulty circuit boards, glancing over to find Aftershock resting quietly in the small makeshift cradle beside him, little more than a box padded with fabrics graciously given to them by the luminoth. Shockwave, on the other side of the lab, had clearly fallen asleep at his desk, slumped over the countertop covered in more clutter than he would normally be able to stand. In the silence, Soundwave let out a quiet sigh, hoping to return to his work when the door opened, and Megatron walked in. He turned to look at the gladiator, then glanced back toward Shockwave, finding him still asleep. Noticing this, Megatron sent him a silent message.

[Did you ever finish that infrared enhanced radar system?]

Soundwave looked back toward his work as he replied.

[I finished the physical prototype, and I got all the code written out, but now I'm just in the third half of the project that's full of debugging.]

[Fun.]

[It's not.]

A few moments went by in silence, and finally Soundwave looked up to find Megatron standing over Aftershock, holding a hand to gently pet her along her side. As much as he tried to hide it, there was most definitely a hint of a smile on the gladiator's face. Soundwave set down his soldering iron to look up at him.

[You just came in here to see her, didn't you?]

[Maybe.]

After a moment, Aftershock stirred slightly, only to take a deep breath and let out a tired moan. And though the sound was quiet, Shockwave responded, reflexively dragging his arms across the countertop to lift himself up, but given that he was still mostly asleep, he shifted his weight just slightly too far to one side and ended up falling off his chair. Soundwave scurried over and knelt down beside him as the scientist started to get up. When Shockwave finally looked over to find Megatron standing in the room, his aura turned dismayed, ashamed, and he practically scrambled to his feet even as Soundwave sent him a message.

[Shockwave, he doesn't care.]

The scientist straightened his posture, though he held a hand to his head after a moment.

"Lord Megatron."

The gladiator had been intentionally averting his gaze, instead keeping his focus on Aftershock. Once Shockwave spoke, however, he looked back toward the scientist.

"I was only here to ask Soundwave about the radar enhancements."

[You mean that was your excuse to come look at Aftershock?]

"That was not my sole reason."

Shockwave awkwardly grabbed onto his arm cannon with his other hand as he muttered quietly.

"I apologize. I... should have been working."

Megatron looked toward him, just barely smiling, his gaze one of genuine understanding.

"You being able to get anything done is a miracle. I'm not expecting you to keep up your normal workload. I'll just pin everything on Ratchet until he decides to go back to Iacon."

"That seems illogical."

"That was a joke."

Megatron finally pulled his hand away from Aftershock's negligible grip, and turned to leave.

"Don't torture yourself over research."

Just as he stepped out through the door, he sent a silent message to Soundwave.

[I'm sorry about that. Force him to go back to sleep.]

Shockwave stepped over to glance toward Aftershock for a moment before taking her box and retreating back to his corner of the lab, letting out a sigh. Soundwave finally replied to Megatron.

[You think I have that power?]

[You're his conjunx.]

[WE ARE NOT CONJUNX.]

[You're raising your child together, there's little practical difference.]

[IT IS DIFFERENT.]

[And how, exactly? Why are you suddenly so opposed to this?]

[... _You..._ ]

Soundwave walked over toward Shockwave, who, starting to fall asleep again, nonetheless held Aftershock in his arms as he leaned back in his chair. Soundwave stepped up to him, leaning over him and holding both hands to either side of his head, holding his visor to Shockwave's face.

[Go somewhere more comfortable.]

"I should be working..."

[You are too tired to be conducting proper scientific experimentation.]

"That is... logical."

Finally, Shockwave begrudgingly got up, taking Aftershock with him as he retreated from the lab.

 

Such visits to see Aftershock by other decepticons had started becoming common, at least for everyone except Starscream. Whether by ambivalence or by his dislike of Shockwave, the seeker rarely went into the lab. When he did, he usually noticed Aftershock and looked over at her, but never seemed to want to interact with her, and always had a decent reason for being in the lab instead. But everyone else, including Megatron, seemed to visit more for the purpose of seeing Aftershock than because they needed anything important. It felt violating, actually, considering that the lab had primarily been a retreat for Soundwave and Shockwave. Now, when they most needed the solitude, were the decepticons most interested in visiting their home.

Soundwave let out a quiet sigh as he walked into a storage room, looking for extra circuitry components Steelwing might have salvaged from somewhere. He looked through drawers, opened cabinets, looked in boxes, then finally opened one of the lower cabinets, only to find Starscream lying in one of them. Soundwave staggered back, thoroughly startled by the sight of the seeker seemingly unconscious or asleep, at least until he started to move. Soundwave knelt down beside him as Starscream opened his eyes, immediately squinting and holding his hand over his face to shield himself from the light. He let out something of a growl as he shifted his weight, moving his face into the shadow of the cabinet. In the process, he knocked over several objects, and Soundwave realized that they were empty containers of high grade. He looked back toward Starscream, whose unusually quiet aura showed that he, indeed, was actually drunk. The seeker briefly met his gaze, then looked away, speaking with little effort, his words mashed together in apathy.

"What do you want?"

[Are you okay?]

Starscream started laughing a forced laugh, holding both hands to his head.

"Ssssure. You get... everything, and I'm... second. But _yeah_ , I'm okay..."

"What do you mean by second?"

"Well... I've always been.. second to Megatron, yeah. _That's_ nice. He wants to kill me, but then... but then he keeps me... because he just wants to frag me... But I'm second to you too... and Shockwave, and the... moth... people..."

[Wait, how are you second to Shockwave? You outrank him.]

Starscream looked over at him for a moment, blinking slowly before letting his head roll to one side.

"You picked him, didn't you?"

Soundwave froze, but the seeker kept rambling.

"Of anyone... You... You're so perfect, and nice, and you said you don't hate me, which is more than _I'm_ used to, all I get is... they're mad and they hate me and they try to _kill_ me, but you just _had_ to pick Shockwave, and he's awful, and he doesn't even love you like I do-"

[Starscream...]

"-I don't... I don't know _what_ you want, because... now there's like..."

[Starscream, please.]

The seeker turned his face away from Soundwave, laughing quietly.

"Even Megatron loves you like his own conjunx... You _like_ torturing us, don't you?"

[That was a mutual- that's not the point.]

"Yeah well this isn't... mut... mutul..."

Soundwave's cables reached forward into the cabinet, grabbing Starscream and pulling him out with little resistance.

[I have a feeling you're going to regret having said all this once you're sober...]

"Ahah.. my dear, I regret everything I've ever said."

[Don't call me that.]

"See!?"

Soundwave lifted the seeker into his arms, summoning a groundbridge before him leading into Starscream's quarters. He stepped through, placing the seeker on his bed, but had to pause for a moment as he had never actually seen the room before.

The large space was mostly barren, and would have been completely dark were it not for the few purple lights in one corner. There was little more than a few storage crates for furniture, the tops of which were covered in various rocks and geodes. It was sad to see, for some reason, like Starscream lived in an empty cave or something. Granted, it's not like anyone had had the time to do any interior decorating before now, but Starscream, of all people, was the one who would make the effort.

He looked back at the seeker, realizing the full extent of what he'd said.

He just admitted that he loved Soundwave. But was that really true, or was it just drunken rambling? Somehow it seemed to make sense, as it explained some of his cryptic behaviour. The seeker was awfully quick to sympathize with him, and upon hearing Megatron tell U-Mos that he didn't speak, Starscream had said... "it's a shame, too."

Soundwave turned and walked back through the groundbridge, closing it behind him. Even if what the seeker said was true, it was better to wait until the high grade wore off to bother discussing it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minichapter!  
> Weird place to end, I know.
> 
> I'd been struggling for the past year to think about how I would write Aftershock finally becoming a thing. This was, in my opinion, the least awful way of doing it. I still feel like the original characters are slipping away from me and I need to refresh my memory by watching TFP instead of playing bits of Metroid Echoes YET AGAIN just to talk to U-Mos.  
> Also I've wanted to write drunk Starscream hiding in cabinets forever. It's funny how for the majority of this story I was thinking of things to write in the future, but now as I'm nearing the very end, I'm almost entirely dependent on the scenes I'd planned out ahead of time.
> 
> I'm assuming cybertronians have a gestation period of eleven months. I made sure to have the timescale make sense up until the end of the main plot. After that, I can just do time skips all over the place.


	36. Agreements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter!

Starscream was very obviously trying to avoid Soundwave the following day, shying away from any of the areas he visited, and going so far as to scurry out of the Alterium bridge as soon as Soundwave walked in. But in a strange coincidence, they had both decided to wander around the Temple Grounds at the same time. Starscream, upon noticing Soundwave walking toward him, seemed to want to run, his wings drooping behind him, but finally he let out a sigh and looked away.

"I guess I can't run from you forever..."

Soundwave stepped up to him, remaining silent, watching the seeker as he held his arms close to him and averted his gaze. He tried to suppress his aura, but Soundwave could still feel traces of anxiety radiating from him as Starscream spoke again.

"Just... forget everything I said yesterday. I mean... it was all true, but just forget it."

Soundwave stood there, unable to think of anything to say in response. A relatively large insect started to walk past them, wings folded, meandering about, and Soundwave watched it for a moment. The luminoth called them lumites, and had stated that they were capable of photosynthesis as well as cloaking, though he'd never seen one do it before. Starscream's aura started to become annoyed as he spoke.

"What do you want? What am I supposed to say?"

Soundwave merely tilted his head inquisitively, and the seeker continued.

"I just..."

His anxiety started to return, and he looked away.

"Yesterday was awful and it kept reminding me how lost I am without a war to win."

Soundwave's aura flashed with concern.

[Megatron didn't do anything to you, did he?]

Starscream held his hands up for a moment.

"No, no, it was... U-Mos's, uhh.. consort? What is she?"

[J-Syr?]

"Yeah, her."

[I wasn't under the impression that they were involved.]

"Well aren't  _ you _ oblivious. Anyway, we were talking about the fortress, and she mentioned that a lot of the luminoth alive now had never seen Aether at peace. It was... striking, I guess. I told her that the decepticons were the same way, and she said... 'it's strange when you feel you've spent your whole life defending your home, and then have to figure out what that home is'. I'm... not sure why that stuck with me. I mean, I was doing alright before the war started. I was a senator, but I was about as corrupt as you could get. I just didn't care. I was in it for myself. That's how I've somehow managed to survive for all these years; because  _ I'm _ the only person I know I can depend on. But now, trying to make a world at  _ peace _ ... that requires you to care about other people, and I'm just not good at it. But... I see you, and... you care about everyone. I'm not sure how you do it. You're like a saint among us... who... also manages to frighten the sparks out of every person you look at. Yet you've never hurt me, and you always listen, which is two things no one else does for me... I'm... rambling again, aren't I?"

Soundwave gave a single nod, and Starscream rolled his eyes, though his aura had grown more content, as did his posture.

"It's not my fault you're like the perfect therapist. You just sit there and say nothing, it's great."

Soundwave continued to remain silent, merely letting his comforting aura radiate from him as he looked to the sky, watching as a group of birds flew by overhead. Starscream crossed his arms, again looking away from Soundwave, but he was no longer fearful.

"So yeah. Forget what I said yesterday. Remember what I said today."

Soundwave silently agreed to uphold only one of those requests.

 

Either Aftershock grew very rapidly, or time started to feel condensed despite the lack of projects. It barely felt like a few weeks before she started walking, which made her infinitely more difficult to keep track of. Both Soundwave and Shockwave had been so used to becoming lost in their work that the addition of a small child wandering around the lab made it dangerous to get too focused on anything. In little more than the two minutes it took to read progress reports, Aftershock could crawl into cabinets and break glass containers, which had happened very frequently, or open drawers and swallow whatever small inedible morsels were there, which had also happened very frequently. Upon making the much-needed decision to reorganize the lab, Shockwave, in all his displeasure, kicked Soundwave out entirely, locking the door while he set to begrudgingly rearranging a lab setup he'd fastidiously maintained for centuries.

In fact, his continued annoyance was quite evident for days afterward, when he frequently found himself looking in the wrong places for things he'd moved. Aftershock had singlehandedly managed to meddle in one of the few things Shockwave held as a monolith; the organization of his lab.

But, in time, Soundwave had become better at watching her. While he worked on whatever he did, he usually kept watch on the security cameras or at least listened intently, using only his cables when needed to move Aftershock away from sensitive items, or taking from her whatever strange things she'd decided to try and eat. Despite her endeavors being foiled, she always giggled whenever Soundwave grabbed her with one of his cables, which was an  _ intoxicating _ sound, one that instantly purged any negative thought one was having.

And in time, Shockwave seemed to grow fond of his progeny as well. He rarely spoke to her, given the fact that she hadn't developed language processing yet, but he did keep his aura inviting, and he occasionally placed her on the counter beside him so she could watch him work.

However, every other living being to see Aftershock instantly fell in love with her. It was odd to see vehicons going out of their way to interact with her, and even the insecticons granted a considerable amount of respect for the 'hatchling', as they called her. Considering her chelicerate features and scorpion tail, though, Soundwave had taken to referring to her as his scorpling. Even the luminoth were fascinated and charmed by her when they saw her, though A-Scl had somehow managed to make Shockwave uncomfortable by her interest in Aftershock's 'assemblage', as she so delicately put it.

 

Soundwave had gone into the storage room beside the lab to search for some of the equipment Shockwave had moved around, when he heard the door to the lab open. Thinking it was merely the scientist, he continued his search, thinking nothing of it until he heard Megatron's voice in the other room.

"Where did Soundwave go? What are you doing here by yourself?"

Clearly he was talking to Aftershock. Soundwave smiled behind his visor, but he continued his search. After a moment, he heard Aftershock emit a happy squeak, and Megatron spoke again, his voice turning soft.

"Well, aren't you just violently adorable?"

Aftershock giggled, and Megatron continued.

"How is that possible? You got the best out of the genetics you were given, didn't you? Soundwave isn't bad, but I don't know how you're so adorable with  _ Shockwave's _ genes."

Soundwave, having finally found the device he'd been looking for, stepped into the lab, finding Megatron kneeling down in front of Aftershock, holding onto her hands. She looked up at the gladiator with her gorgeous eyes, barely able to contain her innocent joy. After a second, her eyes flickered over to Soundwave, and she bolted toward him. In a swift motion, he reached out with his cables, wrapping around Aftershock and pulling her, laughing, to his chest. Megatron, upon looking back to find Soundwave, seemed almost startled, standing up abruptly to glance down at him.

"You didn't see anything."

[Sure.]

They both watched for a moment as the scorpling squirmed slightly in Soundwave's grip, reaching for and grabbing her tail in both hands, just to bite it. Megatron looked back at him, still with a faint smile on his face.

"I didn't think you would adjust this well."

[I didn't either.]

"Where's Shockwave?"

[He's headed here.]

"Do you still have records from the Iacon database?"

[Yes, why?]

"Knockout was talking about translating it for the luminoth in exchange for some weapon technology."

[He must be desperate for things to do.]

"Indeed."

Shockwave stepped through the door a moment later, and immediately, Megatron's aura turned neutral, whereas Aftershock's turned delighted. The scientist had mentioned that his spark was, in a sense, temporarily bonded to Aftershock's, so he was still able to tell what she was feeling at all times, and vice versa. Yet, the scorpling was still always happy to see him for some reason. Shockwave stepped past the others, turning to his corner of the lab.

"You already made preparations, I see."

Megatron's aura turned slightly curious.

"What's going on?"

Soundwave glanced at him, still holding Aftershock in his cables up against his chest.

[He's going to do some tests to make sure she didn't ingest anything toxic during her last... incident. But that likely won't be enjoyable for anyone.]

"Ah. I'll leave you to it then. Remember the Iacon files when you can."

[Yes.]

Megatron glanced down at Aftershock, unable to hide a smile as she reached her hands out toward him. However, he ignored the gesture as he turned to leave, and Soundwave turned to the scientist, remaining silent. After a moment, Shockwave stepped up to him, grabbing Aftershock's arm.

"I will try to do this as quickly as possible."

With that, he placed a small device to her arm, which she watched for a second, before trying to reach over to grab it with her other hand. Soundwave held onto both of her arms to keep her from messing with it, and Shockwave turned back around to grab something else as the scorpling started to squirm, clearly growing uncomfortable. Soundwave turned his aura into one of tranquility in an attempt to pacify her, but she only kept struggling. Shockwave soon placed a small vial to the device already on her arm, and it quickly drew an appropriately small amount of blood. However, just as the scientist turned away, Aftershock let out a distressed screech and started actively fighting Soundwave's hold on her. He struggled to hold her in place, watching as her tail reared up, in a sense, pointing toward him. And just as one of his cables barely touched her head, the stinger end of her tail split open, metal panels folding back to reveal a  _ much _ sharper looking object than the outside, which was then, in a fraction of a second, stabbed into his shoulder and retracted. In his sudden pain, he dropped Aftershock entirely, stumbling back with a hand clutching his shoulder. The scorpling let out a horrible shriek once she hit the floor, and Shockwave, in a split second, turned back to look at what had happened.

"Soundwave!"

Soundwave stood by one of the counters, bracing his weight against it with one hand as he clung to his wound with the other. Sure, he'd technically just been stabbed, but somehow this didn't seem normal. He started feeling weak, his vision growing brighter all of a sudden. His grip on the counter faltered, and he fell to the floor. Before he could start to get up, he began trembling; his limbs were all but useless as they shook uncontrollably. He saw Shockwave pick Aftershock up and step over to him, but the room remained silent as his shaking finally died down, leaving him completely unable to move. The scientist's aura was baffled, almost fascinated, as he stood beside Soundwave and started scanning him with his gun arm.

"Are you conscious?"

[Yes.]

"You're paralyzed?"

[You almost seem happy about this.]

"I'm..."

Soundwave couldn't tell what he was doing, but he must have set Aftershock down somewhere before kneeling down beside him.

"I've... never seen a neurotoxin like this. I was not aware that she had a  _ functional  _ stinger."

[Obviously, neither was I.]

"Allow me to sample this."

With that, Shockwave stood back up and walked across the lab. Even before he gathered his things, however, Soundwave felt one of his hands twitch, and he focused on it; moving his fingers, his hand, his arm, finally starting to regain some control, though he still remained incredibly weak. The scientist looked back at him, watching his movement attempts, and muttered in a quiet voice, seeming awed.

"It's a...  _ very _ short-acting neurotoxin... It must affect the nerves directly. Can you feel sensory input from paralyzed areas?"

[Were you going to bother helping me at all?]

"You seem to be regaining motor function rapidly enough."

Soundwave finally gained enough coordination to sit upright on the floor, though he was still overcome with weakness. Shockwave continued to merely stare at him, and so when the weakness dissipated and he stood up to face the scientist, he glanced over at Aftershock, cowering in a corner on the countertop, just to make sure of where she was, then latched onto the scientist with one of his cables and electrocuted him, sending him falling to the floor, seizing violently. He meandered over to Aftershock as Shockwave still laid trembling on the floor, and watched the scorpling's tense, fearful posture. He reached a hand toward her, and while she initially recoiled, he started stroking her head, and gradually her fear started to melt away. He reached toward her with his cables to pick her up, and looked back to find Shockwave starting to climb to his feet. The scientist's aura was furious for a moment, but as he stared silently at Soundwave, the fury gave way to benign annoyance, and he turned back to his work without another word.

 

Despite their occasional disagreements and the considerable time commitment that Aftershock was, Soundwave and Shockwave nonetheless began to settle into the unspoken roles of their companionship, as well as those which came from their work with the luminoth. Despite the sheer amount of time they spent together, most of it was silent, and physical contact remained infrequent. They even continued to sleep separately. Still, they were almost always together, whether they were working, or meeting with luminoth, or taking Aftershock to Agon so she could run around and dig in the sand. Their routines had become predictable, but that was the very thing they needed.

It wasn't too long before the decepticons started to grow tired of the ships, and began building small settlements out in isolation, usually in Agon, given that the air was comfortably dry there. However, some joined the luminoth as they rebuilt the city beneath the Fortress, and even lived alongside them. Nonetheless, they kept working at repairing and improving their own ships, and even 'adopted' some of the luminoth's mechanoids to help.

 

It was early one morning when Soundwave sat by a window looking out into the sky, watching as the stars faded and the darkness of night turned to a deep blue in anticipation of the sunrise. He held in his hand a simple object; an octahedral fluorite crystal, colored a calming ice blue with flecks of violet running through its transparent center. The sides had been polished some, giving it a smooth, shiny surface. He fiddled with the object as he looked outside, his mind dwelling on everything that had happened over the past year. In what felt like no time at all, he'd gone from working on the Nemesis fighting autobots, to just existing on Cybertron alongside a very changed Megatron, to rebuilding ships once more, to fighting for his life against unknown attackers, to living on Aether. He'd been damaged, corrupted, and saved from corruption. He'd fallen in love with a person he'd known for ages, and now suddenly they had a child. It seemed sudden, but at the same time, part of him couldn't imagine how he lived prior.

He looked down at the crystal in his hand, emotions starting to converge on him once more. Anxiety and fear, joy and love, mixing together in a suffocating apprehension. Finally, he stood up, and headed toward the lab.

He knew Shockwave was awake, so when he stepped into the room, he found the scientist as he expected, but still was overcome with anxiety as he approached. He walked up to stand beside the scientist, watching him work for a minute. Shockwave, able to detect his nervousness, looked over at him, his aura quiet but inquisitive, silently asking him what was wrong. With a deep breath, Soundwave placed the crystal in front of Shockwave. The scientist looked at it for a moment, picking it up and inspecting it.

"This is... fluorite?"

Soundwave remained silent, trying to hide the fact that his hands were shaking slightly. Shockwave looked over at him for a second, seeming confused, trying to figure out what he was trying to convey.

"Umm... this is... nice."

The scientist started to grow equally as nervous as Soundwave, and so he set the crystal down.

"Is this supposed to... mean something?"

Soundwave looked down at his hands as he started fidgeting. He hoped he wouldn't have to say anything, but it seemed as though Shockwave was completely oblivious to his intentions.

[I... know it's only been a year, but I... would like... for us... to be conjunx.]

The scientist immediately stared at him, frozen, and so he averted his gaze. Shockwave's aura practically disappeared, and right then, Soundwave knew it wasn't going to happen. When Shockwave finally replied, he looked away, speaking in a quiet, hesitant voice.

"I... don't want to say this, but... I... can't. Not yet."

Soundwave's aura had finally calmed down, and so he returned to his normal tranquility as he replied.

[Somehow I knew that already.]

Suddenly Shockwave grew more tense, his aura flaring with emotions he couldn't suppress.

"I'm sorry, if you-"

[I'm fine.]

The scientist looked over at him, just staring into his visor for a moment.

"I can't see any logic in you staying with me this whole time. I don't...  _ deserve you... _ "

Soundwave was suddenly struck by that statement, remaining frozen for a moment.

[There... is no logic in it.]

After a second, Shockwave turned to his console.

"There is a place I wanted to show you. Go get Aftershock."

 

Shockwave had refused to give him the coordinates, and so when Soundwave finally met back up with him in the groundbridge room, carrying the sleeping child, he had no way to know where the portal Shockwave summoned would take them.

But as he stepped through it following the scientist and heard it close behind him, the first thing he noticed was the frigid temperature, significantly colder than anywhere he normally went. They stood in the middle of a forest glade, perched on the top of a hillside overlooking a whole mountain range beyond. The wildflowers that surrounded him were covered in a thin layer of frost, and he noticed patches of silver snow underneath rock overhangs and beside some trees. The sky was still dark, just barely colored blue in the early morning light, and so the taiga remained quiet. Shockwave set off without another word, leading Soundwave uphill through the forest. Aftershock seemed to react to the drop in temperature, curling up slightly, and so Soundwave wrapped his cables around her to shield her from the occasional breeze. In the distance, he could see something billowing up from the ground; smoke, or steam, or some other gas. Shockwave stopped, as did Soundwave, and he looked down over the ledge they stood on.

Below them was a tranquil pond, the surface as smooth as glass, which sent steam rising up into the air. Shockwave turned to him, his aura quiet, but content.

"It's heated by volcanic activity."

He led Soundwave around the pool where they could reach the edge, and already the occasional puffs of steam that the breeze pushed onto him were inviting, carrying a delightful warmth in contrast to the freezing air around him. With seemingly no hesitation whatsoever, Shockwave stepped into the water, showing that the bottom dropped down quite abruptly, more than enough to accomodate cybertronians. Soundwave silently followed, though he took care to keep Aftershock out of the water for now.

Water was not as inviting as oil, but the warmth more than made up for the difference in material. And of course, where there was not water to keep him warm, there was steam, enveloping him in its soft embrace. He knelt down, and Shockwave soon followed, sitting right across from him to face Aftershock.

The scorpling had started to wake up, but was still somewhat drowsy, looking around with uninterested eyes. Soundwave held a hand to his visor and tried to wipe off the layer of fog that had formed on it, though it returned only moments later.

The two sat close together as Soundwave's cables freed Aftershock from her cocoon, and she was finally lowered into the water, much to her surprise. She stood motionless, seemingly confused, before trying to take a step only to fall into the water. Soundwave, holding onto her arms, lifted her back up, where she coughed momentarily, shaking water off of her head.

They were the only entities to disturb the glassy smooth pond, and seemed to be the only ones to make any noise in the otherwise silent forest.

Aftershock laughed for a moment as she started to adjust to moving in water, and finally Shockwave spoke.

"I don't expect this to make up for denying your request. I was going to show you this place anyway."

Soundwave let go of Aftershock, and watched as she started hitting the surface of the water with her hands, enamored with how it behaved.

[You don't have to make up for anything. I know it was... relatively soon to be asking. But this does make my day better.]

They watched as Aftershock fell into the water once more, then stood back up, facing her parents and giggling. The scientist looked over at Soundwave, reaching toward his face to make another attempt at wiping off the condensation on his visor. Soundwave didn't react, but his aura turned amused as the fog returned.

"Maybe you should just take off the visor," Shockwave muttered.

[No.]

"In what way does giving someone an octahedral fluorite crystal imply a request to become conjunx?"

[That's just... what I'm used to. A gift of a gem or crystal.]

"Hm. I've never heard of such a thing. Perhaps that is a regional discrepancy."

They looked over to find Aftershock wading through the water, still fascinated by the very concept of it. Soundwave noticed the sky growing brighter, and started hearing occasional chirps by birds in the forest. He looked back at Shockwave, his aura containing hints of suppressed joy.

[You said... not  _ yet _ .]

"... I did."

Both their auras turned warm with affection, and Soundwave reached over to grab the scientist's hand. Aftershock caught their attention, however, by wading over to them and stopping, just staring at them with attentive eyes. After a minute, however, she continued forward and climbed onto Shockwave as much as she could, and he responded by wrapping his arms around her.

In the distance, the sky began to grow brighter, a faint orange haze starting to appear over the horizon, signaling the arrival of the sun. Aftershock played for a while in the water, but eventually she fell back asleep, resting against Shockwave. Still, he and Soundwave remained, silently watching the horizon, waiting for the sun to rise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an idea for a comic I'll never draw of Shockwave drawing a smiley face on Soundwave's visor
> 
> Credits music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XHtbBGk39I
> 
> Thank you all so much! I'm reserving a subsequent chapter for an extended 'thank you'/bonus notes section.


	37. Credits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Acknowledgements, interesting factoids I couldn't mention anywhere else, deleted scenes.
> 
> Credits music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XHtbBGk39I  
> Why a written fanfiction has credits music, I don't know, but it feels fitting and I like the idea of having credits. So there.  
> I'd wanted to use Nine Inch Nails' The Beginning of the End, but this song feels more uplifting. I only decided to use this one just a few days ago. In a strange coincidence, I naturally picked this song for its musical feel, and the words also happen to be quite fitting.

Wow, this is incredible. I've done lots of writing, but most of it has been through a Metroid roleplaying writing group which started in 2010. Granted, I was a terrible writer back then, and it was originally more for the nonsensical fun than a real writing group, but nonetheless, I've done LOTS of writing. However, that group has been largely isolated; we don't tend to make our stuff public or reach out, so as a result, I've rarely attempted to write a contiguous story on my own. I'm not sure what's different about this one, but this is the first large project I can finally say I've completed.

 

Acknowledgements:

While I appreciate everyone who gave kudos and comments, I'd particularly like to thank Cheshire_Hearts, TerminatedApathy, ScreamingYoYos, Traffle, and xStarSaber for their continued feedback. Similarly, I suppose I should thank Rob for allowing me to rant nonsensically about ideas to him until I completely stop making sense. And for getting me a Shockwave figure. That actually helped more than you realize.

I did not expect the feedback on this story to be as overwhelmingly positive as it's turned out to be, so that's been a pleasant surprise, though I actually wish someone would point out continuity errors if they find any.

 

Miscellaneous notes:

Speaking of which, I managed to find two continuity errors in my story. In chapter 16, Starscream mentions "only a few confirmed casualties so far" on the Triad but then Soundwave starts looking and it turns out to be 17. I guess this depends on whether you think 17 people dying is 'a few' after the ship got pummeled as it had been. Personally, that seems like 'several', not 'a few'

The second error: when I wrote the chapter in which Soundwave goes with Ratchet to talk to the council, I scoured the TFWiki looking for names of councilors that were obscure enough that I could use them without much risk of mischaracterizing them, considering I know nothing about Ratbat, and Alpha Trion is dead in the TFP continuity, if he even was a councilor. In the process, I ended up picking Halogen. However, I later learned that in Exodus, I believe, which is in the TFP continuity prior to this, Megatron kills Halogen. Whoops. I suppose I could change the name if I really wanted to.

You may not have noticed this, but in chapter 15, when Soundwave is hit by a missile and is knocked out for a bit, he wakes up in delirium. The last paragraph of his delirium is the same paragraph in the very beginning of the story ("This was not how it should have happened...") I'd even derped a bit by mentioning autobot ships, and I had to make it fit in that chapter. I'd intended for them to, at that time, be under the impression that they were fighting autobots. The purpose of that section was to imply that the prior 14 chapters had all just been Soundwave reliving that entire ordeal in the course of those 30 seconds.

This whole story is a sort of evolved version of one I'd started working on a while ago before deleting. I used to ship Soundwave with Starscream, but the gist was similar; decepticons fly ships to an inhabited metroid planet, unbeknownst to them, and are attacked by Pirates. The deal was that while it's very easy to think that Starscream would be interested in Soundwave, it was notably difficult to push Soundwave to reciprocate. Ironically, that scrapped idea was what led me to realize that Soundwave pairs so much better with Shockwave instead. So, I still had a good basis for plot, and a better pairing. It was about that time that I'd come up with the idea of Aftershock (well before starting this story), mostly because, with other assumptions I make about the cybertronian race, I started to realize that a biological form of reproduction actually made MORE sense than some alternatives. Suddenly I wanted to force this terrible idea onto someone, and I settled on Shockwave because he was the "least objectionable option" by some strange metric.  
From there, I had to work backward and figure out what conditions would result in Shockwave voluntarily keeping it. Having it save his life seemed like a decent enough reason, so that idea formed a lot of the critical plot.

Originally in the brainstorming phase I intended for them to land on the uninhabited Bryyo rather than Aether, because I had some thought of Shockwave controlling Bryyonian colossal war golems. Upon remembering Quadraxis, however, I knew I had to send him to Aether instead. In fact, on Terraria I have a Shockwave character on the world Bryyo, and an Aftershock character on the world Cybertron.

There is a line in Transformers Prime in the episodes at the end of season 1 when Unicron is waking up where June says "careful, there could be aftershocks", and now upon hearing that my mind always screams "INDEED THERE COULD"

I debated for a LONG time how to write about Shockwave actually *having* Aftershock. I  _reeeeeeally_ didn't want to. So, despite having some ideas immediately before and after that which I could have used, I decided to skip the entire thing. I'll mention those ideas in the deleted scenes.

I wanted to have Shockwave have some type of complication though. In fact, the very first (now deleted) snippet where I wrote about Aftershock, was him waking up from stasis.

Similarly, when I first thought of (and wrote (now deleted)) the scene where Aftershock actually stings someone, I imagined it being Wheeljack for some bizarre reason. It resulted in Shockwave getting understandably pissed, going to injure him somehow, when Wheeljack called him a sadist and he took the time to correct him on his being a psychopath, not a sadist. Then Ratchet came in, got mad at Shockwave (and Wheeljack for being an idiot), resulting in Shockwave physically threatening him. Then Megatron came in, got mad at Shockwave for physically threatening Ratchet, and Shockwave bashed his head anyway.

During the space battle, I had originally planned for the Alterium to destroy the Leviathan and then, when the ships were retreating to the surface, have the Triad break apart on re-entry. The whole nuclear detonation thing came out of nowhere, but perhaps it was inspired by a Nova talking about the Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

I only learned, about halfway through writing this, that the concept of conjunx endura was a thing. Thank you, Cheshire_Hearts, for unintentionally teaching me that.

The ship name Triad came to me pretty easily. I'm not sure why it seemed like something the decepticons would name a cargo ship. I don't remember how exactly I came up with Alterium. I have an irrational love of the word javelin and anything named after it, so I named another ship the Voulge because that's the name of another polearm that is NOT Halberd, because that's reserved for Meta Knight's ship. (I have a HUGE idea for a kirby based story actually). Apex Sirion was... some mashing together of thoughts regarding Axiom Nexus and a line from Septimus Signus in Skyrim in his rambling saying "it was, and is, the maximal apex."

Am I the only person who refers to spark-generated electromagnetic fields as auras? Because why?

Knockout being in this story was a complete afterthought. I actually debated killing him during the space battle, but watching his death would require Soundwave to physically be present, and there was no reason for him to be.

I didn't really want Shockwave to hear Soundwave's voice at any point during this story, but it was unavoidable.

 

Deleted Scenes:

Like I said before, I wanted Shockwave to have complications. This culminated in an idea where, upon sitting up and trying to tell Soundwave something, he stops in the middle of a word and passes out. He wakes up only a moment later, looking up at Soundwave, and saying "I'm not sure why my first delirious thought was that you look flattering looming over me, concerned, obscured by glare."  
[... Thank you?]

The other alternative idea which could be combined with the previous was Shockwave basically suffering from internal bleeding and needing emergency surgery. I was going to have a conversation in there between Knockout and Ratchet where Knockout mentioned that Shockwave was going to be mad at him for using psychrofluorine (the thing they'd argued about earlier), prompting Ratchet to ask why, and for them to become mutually confused at Shockwave's calling it 'primitive'.

I kept wanting to go back to synthetic dark energon, but I never really had a good chance. There was one bizarre scene I pictured where the fumes from an unstable version caused Soundwave and Shockwave to get really intoxicated and touchy before passing out.

During the descent to Aether, I had this image in my mind of Ratchet nearly being sucked out of a sudden hole torn in the side of one ship, only to be saved by someone grabbing him, and looking up to find that it was Megatron. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good enough reason for Megatron and Ratchet to be on the same ship, let alone in the same room.

I actually wanted for Soundwave to give the crystal to Shockwave and then leave out of nervousness, prompting Shockwave to start asking people what it's supposed to mean. Only Starscream would realize that it's more of an Iacon tradition for asking someone to be their conjunx. Shockwave would say that he can't agree to that, and Starscream would just say "you're... confusing, and I despise you." The reason I didn't do this is because Soundwave, mistakenly assuming Shockwave understood the gesture, would reasonably stay to hear his answer, and Shockwave would reasonably ask him about it rather than turn to others.

I've been waiting this entire story for Soundwave to have a direct conversation with Steelwing so I could start to establish his character, but it's never really happened for whatever reason.

 

In conclusion:

Thank you all again. I'm still working out the details of the sequel, and I'll take my time with it. Like how I started with this one, I likely won't even post anything until I get at least 10,000 words into it. But I can give you a few hints about what to expect.  
\- Dark Samus returns, and the severity of the situation rekindles the autobot/decepticon conflict they'd thought was over  
\- Starscream emulates my experiences with babysitting, in that Aftershock really likes him for reasons he can't understand given that he doesn't like kids  
\- People will die  
\- Steelwing and J-Syr in particular will have greatness thrust upon them

See you next mission!


End file.
